Cross My Heart & Hope to Spy
by PrincessNamine23
Summary: Namine Hikaru never knew she was a spy, until she sees the contents of a suitcase & meets 13 other freshmen who share the same fate. As she & her new friends take on spy training at the Twilight Academy, is it possible that Namine finds her true love? RxN
1. The Louis Vuitton Suitcases

**MMHMM!  
**I started my old story, _Mission Impossible: Spy Academy _all over again. So now it's _Cross My Heart & Hope to Spy_, and, hopefully, it'll be a whole lot better. But sometimes I wonder why I deleted my first story in the first place. I still have the drafts though! SO IT'S ALL GOOD! (: I honestly put a lot of the things that I own into this story, like Namine's outfits and her beach house. (Yes, I recently moved to the beach!) And it's beautiful here in Beverly Hills ! It sorta inspired me to write this somehow… O___O

**I SURE LOVE MY LEMONADE!  
**Yup, you guessed it. This story is dedicated to _lemonadeskies_! She's practically my sister and has always been my inspiration and encouragement, even when I didn't have my first story on FF yet. And she's really actually the only person I talk to on FF. D: BUT IT'S ALL GOOD! ^__^ She has _the _greatest advice and ideas. Definitely consider talking to her and checking out her stories! The first chapter of one of her stories already hit like what? Twenty (and maybe even more!) reviews?! Holy crap! I'm so jealous. Haha, jk jk. :D

**DISCLAIMER.  
**If Kingdom Hearts was mine, I'd definitely share it with _lemonadeskies_! (:

**Warning : **LONGGGG chapter! (;

* * *

**1. The Louis Vuitton Suitcases**

I love Ryan. Seriously, I do. He's my younger, thirteen year-old brother, who has black, emo-styled hair that flops over his deep blue eyes. His closet is like the guy section of a PacSun store with some Hot Topic band shirts and Anchor Blue skinny jeans thrown in there. He's a master at Guitar Hero and loves Cold Stone Creamery. He told me a million times that he loves me and is basically the best brother a fourteen year-old girl can have. But those facts couldn't stop me from stealing his skateboard from his room this morning when he wasn't looking.

"Yo, Mom!" he panicked from the dining room of my family's beach house. "Have you seen my skateboard?"

"Have you checked your room?" Mom replied as she rushed down the stairs, readjusting the silver Tiffany bracelet on her wrist.

I peeked around the wide doorway that connected the kitchen to the dining room and saw Ryan on his hands and knees, searching under the long dining table. Rolling my sea blue eyes, I pushed his skateboard under the stool I was sitting on with my foot and picked up my glass of OJ from the Italian marble countertop of the island I was sitting at.

Moments later, Ryan rushed in, wearing a white v-neck, an untucked blue plaid button down shirt with scrunched up sleeves, deep blue skinny jeans from PacSun, and black low-top Converse. "Hey, Namine, have you seen…" he stopped in midsentence as his eyes strayed to the board under my stool. A smirk slowly formed on his junior high heart-throb face. "I _knew_ you had it!"

"Then how come you didn't ask _me_?" I laughed, rolling his skateboard towards him.

Just then, a glossy black Jimmy Choo high heel stepped on it and stopped it in its tracks.

I looked up to see Mom standing there, looking serious in a white, sleeveless ruffled blouse that was tucked into a black pinstriped pencil skirt from Forever 21, her wavy black hair up in a wispy updo. Her arms were crossed, but she was smiling. "No skateboarding in here," she said, walking towards the large, stainless steel refrigerator.

Ryan picked up his skateboard as he rushed towards me. "I'll see you later, Namine," he said as we bumped fists.

I blinked. "Where are you going?"

"Today's the first day of school." He rolled his eyes at the idea, then gave me a small wave as he left the room. "Come on, Mom! I don't wanna be late."

"I'll be right there, honey!" Mom gave me a quick peck on the cheek as she rushed past. "I've got to enroll him at his new school. I'll be home in an hour, okay?"

"Yup," I replied as Mom gave me another kiss on my forehead.

"When I'm back, we can go out and do some damage at the mall." She practically beamed at the idea. "And honey, please tell your father to be careful when grilling the salmon for dinner tonight. We don't want to burn that hundred-dollar piece of fish."

I looked past the open French double doors and out onto the wooden deck, where Dad was setting up the large stainless steel kitchen-slash-grill.

"Okay, Mom. I'll see you later."

I jumped off the stool and walked past the open doors. I went out into the lounge area, which had glossy wooden floors with outdoor furniture, a fireplace, a chocolate brown concrete ceiling that had golden ceiling lights and was held up with pillars that were made up of thin plates of golden rocks that stuck out at ragged ends. One side of the lounge area showed the wooden deck that angled towards the rest of the backyard, and the other side showed the large bluestone pool. In the middle was the long outdoor dining table. Bushes of colorful roses lined the walls all around the yard. But the best part was the view of the beach and its sparkling sea that was just past the steep green hills. So, basically, our backyard was the best place for parties.

I made my way over towards Dad, who was wearing an orange Ralph Lauren polo with white shorts. He stood in front of his grill, holding the stainless steel spatula and reading a thick manual on how to clean grills.

Dad looked up when he saw me and beamed. "Hey, there's my beautiful daughter! I know I'm not supposed to know this, but that's a sick shirt."

I smiled at Dad's slang usage as I looked down at my outfit. I wore a long red Abercrombie scarf, which hung around my neck, a white fitted Indie rock band shirt from Hot Topic, faded black skinny jeans from PacSun, and red low-top Converse.

"Thanks, Dad," I said, taking a seat on one of the outdoor couches. "For both calling me beautiful and the shirt."

Dad smiled. "You know what, Namine? You, your mother, and Ryan have taken this move pretty well. I thought that you and Ryan would hate me for having to make us move away from Twilight Town."

A lightbulb went off in my head as I remembered that we had moved into our new house just yesterday. "Oh yeah, huh? I totally forgot about that. I don't know why, but it feels like we've been living here for forever."

Dad laughed. "It's probably because the mayor's so nice and had interior designers do everything for us, like paint the rooms, put all the furniture in. You do know that we got all the furniture in this house for free, right?"

I blinked. "Really?! Oh my gosh, no wonder everything feels so new!"

"That's how I reacted too. It's nice though, isn't it? But your mother and I had to buy the house, but you know…"

I laughed.

"You know I love you."

I smiled at Dad's signature way of saying that he loves me. "I love you too, Dad."

**(:**

"You sure have a lot of bags there, kiddo," Mom said, smiling.

I looked down at the handful of PacSun, Hollister, Forever 21, American Eagle, Roberto Callavi, Burberry, Chloe, and Neiman Marcus bags I was holding. "Yeah, I'm sure gonna build up some muscles after today," I replied.

Mom laughed as we approached the food court, the smell of pretzels and pizza wafting around us. "Are you hungry?" she asked, looking down at her Tiffany watch. "It's lunchtime."

_No kidding. _

I looked around at the fancy, billion-dollar mall and saw even the most expensive restuarants start to form lines. But, since Mom and I had already spent at least a thousand dollars on our things combined, I opted for a good and non-expensive restaurant.

"Let's go to Panda Express," I suggested.

Mom's noise crinkled. "Are you sure, honey?"

"Yeah. We used to eat there sometimes back in Twilight Town, remember? And their orange chicken is _the _best."

"Okay…" Mom sounded unsure of her answer.

Mom and I made our way towards the back of the food court, where usual restuarants like Panda Express and Subway were located. It wasn't any surprise, since Destiny Islands was pretty much the richest city in the world, with beautiful and wealthy people and big, million-dollar beach houses. Heck, even the bathrooms were fancy. Every middle-class store was pushed in the backs of the malls, where only a few people loomed around.

At first, I thought that me and my family were gonna stick out here since people from Destiny Islands obviously looked better than the people from Twilight Town. But it ends up that we blended in perfectly.

When we entered through the glass doors, we saw that the only customers were a small group of friends.

"What would you like, sweetie?" Mom asked, looking down at me.

"Chow mein and orange chicken," I replied, the answer flying off the tip of my tongue.

"Okay, I guess I'll take the same. Why don't you get us a table?"

I headed towards the back of the restaurant and slipped into a booth, where I had a great view of the guy behind the counter, who was probably an upperclassman in high school. He was totally checking out Mom as she considered the electronic menu above him.

I couldn't blame him. My mother looked almost exactly like Jessica Stroup, who played Silver from my favorite TV show, _90210_. She had the same chocolate brown hair and green eyes and looked like a total supermodel.

I held in my laughter as I saw Mom place her order, the guy behind the counter fumbling with the buttons on his register, beads of sweat forming on his forehead.

I took my Sidekick and a can of Arizona green tea out of my oversized metallic bronze Roxy tote and listened to the conversation.

"And I'll take some Kung Pao – are you sweating?" Mom asked as she leaned in across the counter to take a look at the guy's forehead.

He seemed to like it. "Yeah. You're on fire."

Mom pulled herself away at his words. "Excuse me?"

"You're hot."

Mom looked over at me, her mouth slightly open in disbelief. I grabbed my Sidekick and flipped it open to make it look as if I wasn't listening just now.

"So…" the guy continued, now leaning against the stainless steel counter. "What are you, a sophomore?"

"No, I'm _married_," Mom replied firmly, not falling for his great flirting skills.

He seemed taken aback. "Oh. So how old are you exactly?"

"Just get my order ready!"

"Okay, okay!" the guy straightened up and started fumbling with the register. "That'll be twenty-two fifty."

Mom gave him the cash and rushed into the seat across the booth from me. "Can you believe that guy?" she asked, exasperated. "I thought people here would have class."

I laughed.

"You were listening to our coversation, weren't you?"

I shrugged. "Sorry. It was just… interesting."

Mom rolled her eyes. "I have to go to Louis Vuitton really quickly, Namine. Is it okay if I leave you here for just a few minutes? You know your kung fu."

"Okay, sure. But don't you have enough purses?" I asked, putting my Sidekick back into my purse.

"Oh, it's for something else. Just be here when I come back."

Mom gave me a stern look before she slipped out of the booth, revealing the guy behind the counter holding a tray with our orders.

He set it down on the table, then slipped into the seat Mom used to occupy.

"Can I help you?" I asked slowly.

"Yeah. You're pretty cute."

Oh. My. God.

**-_-**

A few hours after we had dinner together at the long outdoor dining table in the backyard, I went up the stairs and into Ryan's room, where he was sitting on the wooden floors against his bed, a thick book in his lap.

I leaned against the white doorframe, a smirk on my face as I crossed my long arms. "Gee, Ryan. I never knew you could read."

Ryan looked up at me smiled.

I laughed as I closed the French double doors behind me and sat down next to my brother. "Is that homework?"

"Yeah," Ryan sighed. "I mean, come on, Nami. Do you honestly think that I would read just because I wanted to?"

"Well…If you were really _that_ bored of your life, yeah."

Ryan smirked and shook his head.

I looked out of the wide window and saw that it was already dark.

"Hey, have you seen the suitcases in the trunk of Mom's car?" Ryan asked, abruptly closing his book.

I blinked as I hugged my knees. "What suitcases?"

"Are you freaking blind?! Those things are huge! I don't get how you could've missed them."

I shrugged, then smirked. "I bet they're bombs."

"Wha-?" A smirked formed on Ryan's face. "Jeez. You and your big ideas."

We both laughed as the sound of Mom's heels clicked on the wooden floor of the hallway outside.

"She doesn't know," I heard her say from the other side of Ryan's bedroom door.

Our laugher immediately ceased as Ryan turned to me. "She?" he whispered, then pointed at me. "You?"

I shrugged, then the both of us jumped up and pressed our ears against the doors.

"I think we should tell her, Maddie," Dad said. "It's gonna be too much of a shock to her when she notices, especially with our plan. She probably won't even say a proper goodbye to Ryan."

"No, Spencer. We should wait. If we tell her now…"

"How will she get her things packed by the time she has to leave for the airport?"

"She has her uniforms, transcripts, and permanent records packed in the suitcases already. All we need for her to do is to pack just a few more things and she'll be ready to go."

There was a long moment of silence. Ryan caught my eye and fear shot down my spine.

"Okay." Dad's voice sounded worried.

"She'll be fine, Spencer." I could imagine Mom putting her petite hand on Dad's broad shoulder. "Namine's strong and she's fearless. Remember, we raised her as a brave girl. She'll get through this, I promise."

There was another moment of silence before Dad spoke up again. "Amanda's the headmistress, right?"

"Yes. Namine won't be alone."

I imagined Dad giving Mom a tight hug right before their footsteps faded away.

I leaned against Ryan's doors, then slowly slid down until I was sitting back down on the wooden floors.

"I don't get it, Namine," Ryan started to sound panicked. "You're going somewhere?"

"Okay, first are the suitcases," I said as I started trying to put the pieces together. "Mom said that my uniforms and records were already packed and that I just need to pack a few more things." I looked up at Ryan. "Normal clothes?"

He shrugged.

"And then the thing Dad said about me not being able to give you a proper goodbye. Your school is closer to here than _my _school, so Mom will have to drop you off first…"

"Then there's the airport," Ryan added.

"Yeah. And a plan. I think, maybe, that the plan is to drop you off, then take me to the airport with my suitcases all ready and packed. And then they send me off – somewhere – and it involves Amanda. A-_Aunt_ Amanda?"

"Isn't she the principal at some school?" Ryan asked, crossing his arms as he tried to keep up.

"Sort of. Dad said that she was the headmistress, which is like a principal. But headmasters and headmistresses are principals at private schools…"

"So Mom and Dad are sending you off to a private school?!"

"I think so… But it's probably a boarding school… because Aunt Amanda is headmistress of a school in Twilight Town."

Ryan collasped onto his bed. "No wonder!"

"But which school am I going to? There aren't any boarding schools in Twilight Town."

Just then, the sound of the shower being turned on reverberated throughout the house.

I swiftly glanced over at the clock on Ryan's electric blue walls and saw that it was eight-thirty.

"Are Mom and Dad going to sleep already?" Ryan asked.

Before I could reply, the French doors opened and Dad poked his head in. "You kids better sleep early tonight," he said, looking back and forth between Ryan and me. "Especially you, Namine. You have an important day tomorrow."

And with that, Dad left with a smirk on his face.

**:D**

At exactly nine o'clock, the French double doors of the master bedroom were shut closed, the curtains drawn. Ryan and I were hanging out in my room, getting ready for a mission we knew was going to get us in big trouble –

We were going to see what was in those Louis Vuitton suitcases.

I sat on my queen-sized bed, pouring over the different maps that I quickly sketched of our house, one for where the security alarm sensors were and one for all the possible emergency exits. Ryan was hacking into the security alarm box that was on the wall next to the French glass double doors that led out onto my balcony, trying to disable the alarms. He had learned a few tricks, thanks to some of the many geeks that were in his computers class last year.

"There!" he exclaimed. "The alarm's off."

"Okay…" I said slowly, quickly writing down some final notes on the maps. "Even if you disabled the alarms, I think taking the front and back doorways are too risky."

"So you're saying that I spent the last," – he looked at the clock on my lavender walls – "_half hour_ working on this freaking box for nothing?!"

"No," I replied, laughing. "Dad only finished installing the mini-cameras on the front and back doors, so if we take those routes, then they'll know. An alarm will go off."

"But I thought I disabled the alarm."

"No. That's a different one. I don't know how to disable the cameras; I think the controls are in Mom and Dad's room. It's way too risky to go in there. They're not heavy sleepers, you know."

"Okay."

"But Dad never finished installing the camera for the garages, so we can go through there. Besides, the garage doors don't make a sound when we open or close them, so they're our best route."

Ryan smiled. "I love you, Namine."

I smiled back. "Right back at you. So do you have the supplies?"

Ryan picked up a black Volcom messenger bag and patted it. "Yup. I have the flashlights, the camera, latex gloves, and Mom's car keys."

I jumped off my bed and threw some of my pillows under my 600-thread count comforter to make it look like I was actually under the covers.

"Did you do this?" I asked, pointing at the lumpy figure.

Ryan nodded. "Although… Your's looks a bit chunky. Shouldn't you fix it up a little?"

I rolled my eyes and patted the sides to smooth it all out. "There?"

Ryan gave me a look of satisfaction as he reached into his bag and handed me a pair of gloves.

I smirked as I pulled them on. The whole reason we decided to use latex gloves was because I once saw a jar of fingerprint dust in Mom's purse. We weren't about to blow our first cover.

As we tiptoed out of my room and downstairs towards the garage, I turned off all the lights to make it seem like Ryan and I were actually going to go to sleep.

Sounds of bare feet walking on the landing above us forced us to throw ourselves into the dining room, where we pressed ourselves against the walls. I took a swift glance behind my shoulder and towards the foot of the stairs, where I saw a glimpse of Dad walking down the stairs in his white t-shirt and striped boxers.

"LOSE THE BAG!" I whispered to Ryan as I saw Dad walking down the hall towards us.

Ryan panicked, then threw his bag in a random direction across the dining room. It smoothly glided across the table, then flew off and landed on the floor with a loud crashing sound as I imagined the flashlights, the camera, and keys hitting each other.

Dad's footsteps stopped just seconds after the sound of unmistakable metal hit the floor.

I shot Ryan a look that could kill and he shivered under my intense gaze.

Just as I heard Dad start walking again, I began walking calmly through the dining room towards the kitchen.

The golden ceiling lights above us turned on and I causually twirled around towards Dad, who was standing in the doorway between the dining room and the ceiling, his mouth open as if he was going to yell something.

Dad blinked, then shifted his eyes back and forth between Ryan and me. "Man, I thought you guys were thieves or something," he said, laughing nervously as he scratched the back of his head. "But what's with the gloves?"

I looked down and saw the latex gloves.

_Oopsie. _

"Our hands were cold," Ryan lied, glancing over at me. "So we put these… on."

Dad cocked an eyebrow. "Okay…"

"_And _we were just getting a snack before we went to bed," I added through my teeth. "Right, Ryan?"

Ryan gave me a confused look, then said, "Oh! Yeah, we were."

"All right then," Dad replied, shrugging as he turned off the lights and headed back towards the hallway. "Goodnight, kiddos."

"Goodnight, Dad," Ryan and I said in unison as I went up to pick up the bag.

I shoved it into Ryan's arms and we made our way through the dining room and the kitchen, where the French double doors leading into the garage were waiting for us. I turned the long, silver handle and we quickly bustled inside without a noise.

"Yo, Namine," I heard Ryan whisper from somewhere in the darkness of the garage. "Where are you? I have your flashlight."

"Just turn it on!" I demanded as a bright ray of light shone on the metal of Dad's Bentley.

"Oh, there you are," Ryan said, smiling as he walked towards me.

I made my way towards the small black box next to the garage doors and pressed on one of the buttons. I opened the silent door next to me halfway and took the car keys from Ryan. I fumbled around, taking a moment before I found the small pad of key's for Mom's Maserati.

"You ready?" I whispered, turning towards my brother, who immediately held in his breath.

I could see why. This was probably the most dangerous part of our so called "misson". At night, Sunrise Avenue was completely silent, so if a car alarm beeped, it would be pretty loud. Mom is someone who I consider to be a genius – Even if she left her car sitting out in the open on the driveway, she locked it good and tight.

My thumb hesitated over the unlock button on the key pad.

"Just do it," Ryan encouraged.

I closed my eyes as I pressed the button.

The chirps emitted a quieter noise than I had expected as the front lights flashed on and off twice before all was silent again.

Ryan and I waited for the thudding of footsteps, but when we didn't hear anything, we bent down and crossed out into the cool summer night's air.

I pressed the "open trunk" button on the key pad as Ryan turned off the flashlight, standing near the garage doors to keep lookout.

I rushed towards the back of the Maserati and lifted the trunk. The brown signature Louis Vuitton suitcases sat there, perfectly still as if it wasn't hiding a huge secret. But here's the catch:

_It was. _

I quickly unzipped one of the suitcases and gasped when I realized that it _was _a bomb –

A bomb_shell_.

* * *

**CLIFFHANGER!  
**Mwahahahahahaha! Do you hate me now? Haha (; **PLEASE REVIEW!** && tell me if you're gonna write a spy story because I wanna read & review it. :P


	2. Secrets & Suprises

**OHH, GEE!  
**I loved all of the reviews everyone sent! They were so supportive, long, & happy! xD Thanks, you guys. You're the best! I just hope I didn't bother anyone too much by asking if they could review it, LMFAO. Yeah, I had to ask a few people if they could review. I was in the need for some encouragement. :( BUT IT'S ALL GOOD! :D

**I WANT LEMONADE.  
**Yessirr; this story is dedicated to the one and only… _lemonadeskies_! By the way, whoever's stealing things from her had better back off! Yeah, you read this buster. See how it feels to have TWO people hate your theiving habits! Make up your own freaking things, don't steal them! Especially not from the nicest & coolest person in the world!

**I GOTS A DISCLAIMER TO TELL.  
**It's in the first chapter. (;

**Warning: **I think this chapter is a shorter than the last… but the cliffhanger's _wayyyy _better! Don't read ahead! ;D

* * *

**2. Secrets & Suprises**

When I woke up the next morning, I remembered that it was Friday. Pretty much known to me and Ryan as _the _Friday - the specific Friday whereas I, Namine Hikaru, will never be the same person ever again. It was actually pretty scary to think about.

Instead of being at the kitchen island like I usually am every morning, I stayed up in my room, sitting on the pastel polka dot egg chair in my beanbag corner, my glossy light pink laptop on my lap. The curtains were still drawn over the French windows, bathing my room in the kind of darkness that a four year-old would be able to sleep through without being scared. I had woken up pretty early, so I was still in my lacy pink chemise with my legs in my fuzzy pink booties, salvaging my breakfast out of a can of Arizona Green Tea.

Right when I reached down under my chair for the thick file that I had "borrowed" from the suitcase I was looking through last night, a single knock came from the doors.

I jumped in my seat, making my open laptop bump against my head. "Ouch," I whispered, rubbing my forehead as I closed my laptop and slid it under my bed, along with my green tea and the thick file.

I walked over and opened my door just a crack and saw Mom looming over me, wearing a silk red wide-strap button-down tank top, a black and white houndstooth pencil skirt, a wide black belt wrapped around her waist, and black Jimmy Choo pumps. Her hair was curlier than usual and was pulled up into a ponytail, revealing her large golden hoop earrings.

"Mom," I said, flabbergasted as I opened the door wider and stepped out into the hallway. "Aren't you usually asleep at this time?"

"I would be," she replied, crossing her arms and cocking an eyebrow. "But I couldn't sleep very well over of the fact that you and Ryan broke into my car last night."

I felt my eyes grow wide. "Mom, I can explain…"

"Good. Because the two of you owe me and your father a _very _good explaination."

"Wait, what does Dad have to do with… this…?"

My voice faded away and I lost my train of thought as Dad stepped out of his bedroom doors across the hall.

"Get dressed, young lady," he demanded. "You and everybody else in this household are going to have a talk."

I slowly stepped back into my room, my mouth slightly gaping as I closed my doors behind me. I felt my mouth go slack as I leaned against the doors. I ran my hand through my hair.

_How in the world could this happen?!_

I guess I should've seen it coming.

The night before, I spent hours going over everything in that file with Ryan. It ended up to be my permanent record, with some extra things, like the updated backgrounds of my parents' lives (they're some of the top agents of the CIA), documentation that I had officially cracked a Sapphire Series NSA code when I was only four (which I _clearly_ remember doing), and dozens of papers about Twilight Academy –

_My new school._

Judging by the glossy pictures of the academy's gorgeous mansion and maniqured grounds, you would've thought at first that the Twilight Academy for the Exceptional Young would be for those super rich heirs and heiresses who have nothing better to do in their lives except to watch as their peers cower in fear at their family's name and power.

But here's the catch – Twilight Academy wasn't _anything _like that. In fact, sometimes people misread the words that say; _the Exceptional Young_. And when they say exceptional, they _mean_ exceptional. Exceptional as in _genius _and _spy _exceptional.

People who don't know squat about this school only see the _genius _and not the _spy_. Which is obvious, of course. I mean, if everybody knew that the Twilight Academy taught spy stuff, then everybody would want to attend. So that's why this academy's identity is top secret – no one else knows about the contents of anything at that school, except for the people who actually attended.

It kinda made me wonder how it would feel for the residents of Twilight Town to walk the sunny streets, not knowing that a top secret school was miles away from them or that the students could've been among them that very instant.

I used to be one of those people before I moved. I kind of remember seeing a small group of girls in dress shirts, vests, ties, blazers, knee-high socks, and pleated skirts brush past me on my way to the park once. But I didn't think much of it then.

But now, it was totally different.

And it felt kind of good.

**:D**

After I pulled on my pink Lucy Love Natalie sundress, black tights, slightly ruched, dark gray, knee-high flat boots from Jimmy Choo, and a long silver necklace with a single key charm, I brushed my naturally straight blonde hair. Then I secured a slouchy knit beanie that matched the color of my boots on the top back of my head.

"Yo, Namine!"

I jumped when I heard Ryan exclaim from outside of my bedroom doors. "Come in," I said weakly.

Ryan threw himself inside, nearly falling over.

I looked away from my reflection on the mirror that hung on the wall above my dresser and cocked an eyebrow. "Are you okay?" I asked, laughing.

"No!" he closed the doors with a slam. "Mom and Dad woke me up and started saying things about how we broke into Mom's car last night." He gave a deep sigh as he threw himself on my unmade bed. "We're screwed, man."

I pulled my oversized, metalliac black Jimmy Choo hobo bag out of my wardrobe closet. "I don't know, Ryan. They're spies, we're spies. They're probably proud of us because we were stealthy last night. Sort of."

Ryan sighed again. "Maybe. How would you know though?"

"Spies lie."

Ryan craned his neck and followed me with his eyes as I started pulling my things out from under the bed where I had left them earlier.

"I meant to see if I could try to find info on Twilight Academy this morning, until Mom and Dad interruped, of course."

"They didn't see the file, did they?"

"Nope. It was under my bed the whole time." I held up my can of green tea. "Want some? It's kind of warm now, though."

Ryan smiled as he took a sip. "Do you think they know you stole the file from the suitcases?"

"Borrowed, Ryan. And I don't think they do, but they will once they find that it's missing from the suitcase."

"Okay, so lemme get this straight." Ryan sat up on my bed. "If Mom and Dad saw us breaking into the car last night, then don't you think they would've come downstairs and drag us into bed?"

I straightened up from my hunched over position from looking under my bed. "Maybe. But then again…"

"Spies lie," Ryan and I said in unison.

"You catch on quickly," I complimented, taking my green tea back from him and taking a sip. "Now help me pack some stuff into my bag, will you?"

"Okay." He took my Sidekick and iTouch off of my bedside table as I walked over and pulled out my favorite oversized, metalliac black, Jimmy Choo hobo. "Here. This is the important stuff, right?"

I motioned for him to throw the items in there as I walked over to my dresser and pulled my small pink and brown polka dot makeup bag out from one of the top drawers.

"I never knew you wore makeup," Ryan said, confused. "I thought you were naturally pretty."

"I am," I said, smirking. "But sometimes a girl's gotta have some backup. Besides, Mom and Dad don't know I own this stuff."

Ryan laughed as he shook his head. "Daredevil."

"Namine? Ryan?" Mom's voice grew louder as the sound of her heels clicked on the wooden hallway outside.

I stuffed the folder into my bag just in time as Mom opened the doors.

"Come on, you two, let's go," she said, ushering us out. "We have an important talk to talk before Ryan has to leave for school."

The three of us rushed down the hallway, then down the stairs, down one of the downstairs hallways, and out of the house and into the outdoor lounge.

Ryan and I took a seat next to each other on one of the couches as Mom sat down next to Dad on the couch across the glass coffee table from us.

Dad leaned towards us, his elbows resting on top of his knees as he started. "I understand you two broke into your mother's car last night. Is that correct?"

I took a deep breath before answering, "Yeah," and immediately felt like I was being tested on a Polygraph Machine, aka _lie detector_.

Dad looked over at Ryan. "Ryan?"

He nodded.

"Okay then. Namine, tell me _why _you did this."

"Oh, come on, Dad!" I groaned. "It's not like we left any scratches o-or dents or anything…"

"Just answer the question, Namine," Mom interrupted sternly.

I sighed. "Fine." I took another deep breath. "We heard you guys talking last night a few hours after dinner about me… leaving. Mom mentioned something about having already packed my uniforms, transcripts, and permanent records, and I remembered Ryan saying something about seeing suitcases in her car. So Ryan and I decided to sneak out of the house to see what were in those suitcases."

"So you disabled the house's security alarm, stole your mother's car keys, and broke in just because you were curious?" Dad asked sternly.

I rolled my eyes. "Dad, look. I know it was wrong, but…"

"Wrong?!" Dad exclaimed, beaming.

Ryan and I jumped in our seats and gave each other dumbfounded looks.

"It's not wrong, Namine," Dad continued.

_I think I just stepped into the Twilight Zone._

"You two did a great job last night," Mom explained, beaming. "If I didn't look out the window when you two started unzipping the suitcases, I would've missed a milestone."

"Welcome to the world of spies," Dad held out his arms as a welcoming gesture.

_What. The. Hell._

**O__O**

"Do you have your plane ticket?" Mom asked as she drove down Summer Street towards the Destiny Islands Airport.

"Yes, Mom," I replied flatly, since she had been asking me nonstop questions ever since we left the house.

"What about your emergency credit card?"

"Yup."

"Your sweater just in case it gets cold?"

I held up the black button-down cardigan from Forever 21 that was in my lap. "It's right here, Mom."

"Okay, good."

After a moment of silence, I said, "You're worried about me, aren't you?"

Mom took a swift glance at me before resting her eyes on back on the busy street in front of her. I couldn't blame her – the morning commute was pretty heavy. "Not at all," she replied, taking a sip of her coffee. "I was just wondering whether or not you had forgotten anything, is all."

"Mom, you couldn't keep your eyes away from me when I was packing and repacking my things five times this morning!"

"Oh, I know sweetie. It's just that Twilight Town is at least a thousand miles away. Did you bring a picture of the family?"

I rolled my eyes. "For the last time, Mom! _Yes_!"

"Okay." Mom sighed a sigh of relief. Then I felt the car turn into a gated entrance. "Here we are!"

"Mom, this isn't the airport," I said, gesturing to the iron gates.

"It is. It's just a private airport for people like you and me. You and your new classmates are going to take an official Twilight Academy jet to your new school."

I felt my tummy flip. "I'm going to meet my new classmates? Already?"

"Yes, this is a very good chance to meet them before school starts."

"Oh." I turned my back towards Mom and pulled out my compact mirror to check if my eyes were still red from saying goodbye to Ryan and Dad earlier.

_It's no fun meeting people knowing that you look like a resident alcoholic._

After Mom parked her Maserati in an empty parking space, I climbed out just in time to see a huge plane soar overhead from the actual Destiny Islands Airport. The sky was completely covered in dark gray clouds and looked like it would let down sheets of rain while a cold wind blew.

Shivering, I put on my cardigan and swung my bag over my shoulder.

Mom climbed out of the car and smiled at me. "You ready, kiddo?"

I nodded and gave her a small smile as two men dressed in black suits, dark shades, and comms units appeared at the back of the car.

I blinked.

"Jake! Carl!" Mom exlaimed, beaming as she gave each of them a hug. "It's so great to see you again!"

The guy with golden blonde hair smiled back. "Ditto."

The bald, African-American man smiled and looked over at me. "Is this your daughter?" he asked, gesturing towards me.

Mom smiled reassuringly at me. "Yes, this is Namine."

I gave the tall, muscular guys a warm smile.

The blonde held out his hand. "I'm Jake."

"And I'm Carl!" the African American exclaimed, shaking my hand vigorously. "Wow, you've grown so much ever since I last saw you ten years ago!"

I gave a small laugh.

"Well, we'd better get Namine to the plane," Jake said, smiling at me. Then he turned to Mom. "Suitcases?"

Mom popped open the trunk and Jake and Carl took out the four Louis Vuitton suitcases, which I had packed with all of the clothes, bags, shoes, and school supplies that knew I would be using.

Jake, Carl, and I headed towards a ruby red golf cart that sat a few meters away from Mom's car.

I looked behind me and saw that Mom wasn't following us. "Mom?" I asked, confused. "Aren't you gonna come with me to the plane?"

Mom placed her warm hands on my face and gave me a kiss on my forehead. "I can't honey, I'm sorry. Your father and I have to figure out who's the mastermind behind the creation of a nuclear warhead in a suitcase in Hollow Bastion."

I laughed. "Good luck with that."

"Oh, we're almost there." Mom smiled down at me as she brushed my bangs to the side. "You know, you should wear your hair like this."

"Mom, I kinda have to go," I eyed Carl and Ryan stacking my suitcases on top of one another on the trunk of the cart.

"Okay, sweetie." I saw tears well up in Mom's eyes. "Make everyone proud."

I smiled. "Don't worry, Mom. I will."

Mom gave me a tight hug and one last smile before turning away.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and looked up to see Jake and Carl standing next to me, flashing me sympathetic smiles.

Then the three of us climbed into the cart and drove off towards the plane as the sky let down small droplets of rain.

**(:**

By the time the welcoming dinner for the freshmen class rolled around, I had ridden through a three-hour flight in a first class airplane, made acquaintences with most of the freshmen class, eaten chocolate truffles that cost thirty dollars each, rode for an hour in a limosine that took us out of Twilight Town, pressured by Kairi to tell her about a boy I had met last summer when I had visited Destiny Islands, grew speechless at how beautiful the grounds of Twilight Academy were, moved into a _huge _four-girl room with my new aquaintences, reunited with Aunt Amanda (the totally awesome headmistress) and unpacked my stuff.

"God, I love our dorm room," sighed one of my aquaintences, Kairi Amori, as she threw herself on one of the four, queen-sized, ultra plush beds.

I sat down on the bed next to her and looked around. The bedroom had apple green walls, white floor and ceiling molding, wooden floors, golden ceiling lights, and dark brown furniture. Two of the beds had their headboards up against the wall and across the room, the two other beds also had their headboards against the walls that were in between the three French windows, which all had cushioned window seats and red floor-length curtains that were layered over white, see-through curtains. Bedside tables stood on each side of the beds, the outer tables with cylinder-shaped lamps and the middle tables with a traditional alarm clock. On the opposite wall from the French double doors, there was a really long dresser with sixteen drawers. Four, black-framed mirrors hung on the wall above it. The room was so pretty!

"Never mind _that_," Olette panicked, throwing up her hands as she stood up from her perch on the bed across the room from me. "Where's Roxas?"

I felt my eyes grow wide.

_Oh my GOD._

"Oh, gee, you guys barely noticed?" Kairi asked sacrastically.

Selphie blinked. "Wasn't he at the airport with us?"

"No, Selphie," Kairi contradicted, sitting up. "That was the guy who was working at the Starbucks we went to_ before_ we left for the airport, remember?"

"Oh." Selphie giggled. "Well, I saw this cute blonde guy with the prettiest blue eyes there…"

I didn't listen to the rest of Selphie's story as my mind went into overdrive.

Roxas? Were they talking about Roxas _Hikari_? I felt my heart beat faster as I realized that they were talking about the boy I was recently pressured by Kairi to spill about earlier when we were riding in the limo on the way here. He was the boy that I had met when my family had visited Destiny Islands just last summer…

The boy I had shared my first kiss with.

_He was supposed to be here?!_

"Namine? Namine!"

It took me a few seconds to realize that Kairi was talking to me.

"Namine, are you okay? You seemed totally dazed just now." She leaned in closer. "Do you _know _Roxas Hikari?"

"Not really," I replied, relieved that my voice wasn't shaky. "But I think our parents work together."

It wasn't a lie. But I would never tell them that I had a summer fling with him, once upon a time.

"Oh." Selphie sat up straighter and smiled. "So your parents are spies too?"

"No duh, Selph," Kairi rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.

"Not all the people who attend here come from spy families," Olette countered. "Like me, for example."

Kairi and Selphie's jaws dropped. I, for one, was relieved that the subject of Roxas was long gone.

"Would you guys please not stare at me that way?!" Selphie looked scared. "Just because I'm not from a spy family doesn't mean I'm some… blood traitor o-or anything."

The two of them looked away and scratched the backs of their heads.

"Anyways, your aunt bent some serious rules for accepting me into the world of spies," Olette continued, her emerald green eyes locking onto my sea blue ones. "You should've seen it. Two guys wearing suits came bursting through the doors of my house, asking for me. And since my parents are your usual orthodontists, they were scared out of their lives.

"They told me that since I scored the _highest_ scores on standardized achievement tests _ever_, I should attend a challenging school, like the Twilight Academy. My parents think that it's a boarding school for honor roll students. But they obviously have no idea that it's really a school for spies."

I saw Selphie's eye twitch and resisted the urge to burst out laughing.

Just then, a knock came from the living room of our little hide-away.

"I got it!" I exclaimed, thankful for having something to do.

I walked past the doors of our bedroom, through our large living room, and towards the French double doors that led out into the beautiful hallways of Twilight Academy.

I turned the silver handles and my heart stopped beating.

_Roxas_.

* * *

**ANOTHER CLIFFHANGER!**

I bet you really hate me now. Especially since you have to wait to see what happens between your (& my!) OTP. **AND FOR THE SAKE OF ROXAS & NAMINE'S RELATIONSHIP, **_**REVIEW**_**! **:D


	3. Friends & Enemies

**THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU !  
**So ever since I posted up chapter two of _Cross My Heart & Hope to Spy_, I've gotten 168 hits & 111 visitors for the month of August (2009!) so far. Which is pretty good, right? LMFAO. (; &&&& THANK YOU FOR ALL THE REVIEWS! Uhm, there was BlackRoseMuffin, kinmoku2, lemonadeskies (YEAHH !), Sokka's Fan-Lawyer (Ayumu-chan), chockie-girl, Chiglet663, Kataragirl, Lebrezie, hinataonicha, SorasKey, and .sola! I LOVE YOU ALL!!!! ;D

**LEMONADE'S MY FAVORITE DRINK!  
**No joke. Then it's Arizona Green Tea! But yes, don't forget that _lemonadeskies _is the reason I'm writing this! I wonder if her stalker stopped jocking her of her marvelous ideas, hmm? THEY'D BETTER! Otherwise I'm gonna kick their-

**AHEM! :X  
**Disclaimer is in chapter one, my loveee. (;

**Warning: **This is by far _the _longest chapter I've written so far. :D But I hate it. I had such a writer's block on this! D:

* * *

**3. Friends & Enemies**

He rested his forehead on his arm, which was raised above his head and up against the white doorframe. His strikingly blue eyes looked up from the marble floors and instantly became locked onto _my_ blue eyes, the perfect smile I knew by heart slowly forming on his face.

"Hi," I greeted, giving him the smile I was sure _he _knew by heart.

"Hey, Namine," he replied, smiling wider as he straightened up and stuffed his hands in the front pockets of his rinsed indigo skinny jeans from PacSun.

I laughed from my excitement and took a step closer to him. "Oh my gosh, Roxas! It's been like… _forever_!"

Roxas laughed and scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, it has, hasn't it?" He tilted his head a little as his eyes searched mine. "I'd never thought I'd see you _here_, though."

"Same here."

"So our parents work together now…?"

I nodded. "Yeah. Right now, they're probably in Hallow Bastion, trying to find the guy who made this…" I started playing charades with my hands.

"Nuclear warhead in a suitcase," Roxas and I finished in unison.

We both laughed as Kairi stepped out of the bedroom.

"Namine?" she asked, tilting her head to get a better look out the door as she approached me. "Who are you talking…" she cut herself off when she spotted Roxas. "Hey!"

Roxas did the half-nod greeting Ryan would always give me, but his smile wasn't as wide as it was when he first saw me just a minute ago.

Kairi leaned against the side of the orange rectangular couch behind me and crossed her arms. "Why are you so late? It's been like, _five _hours ever since we arrived."

"You sound like my mother," Roxas retorted, smirking.

Kairi's arms fell to her sides as a surprised expression replaced her annoyed look. "Hey!"

I laughed.

Roxas smiled at me. "Can I come in?"

I smiled back and stepped aside to let him in.

As he walked past, I noticed that he was _way _cuter than before. His blond spikes were longer and flopped over his eyes, he had broad shoulders and arm muscles (WTF?! ARM MUSCLES?!), and he was three inches taller (he used to be my current height last summer!)

Roxas and I couldn't keep our eyes off of each other as he stood next to me. Kairi seemed to see the connection and smiled.

"So!" she exclaimed, pushing herself off the couch and clapping her hands together.

Roxas and I jumped and looked away from each other. I felt my cheeks turn pink as he scratched the back of his head.

"How was your flight?" Kairi continued, looking back and forth between me and Roxas. Then her eyes were glued onto the blonde skater next to me.

"Uhh, actually…" Roxas stopped his scratching and pointed to the doors that led to our bathroom. "Can I use…?"

"Oh, yeah, totally!" Kairi ushered him towards the French door. "Take your time, check out the cool soaps. They actually taste pretty good too…" She gave Roxas a final push and closed the door with a slam. "And don't forget to wash your hands!"

I gave a small laugh as she turned around and rushed towards me, her arms stretched out in front of her.

She grabbed my shoulders. "Oh my God, Namine!" she whispered excitedly.

"What?" I asked. "Did we run out of toilet paper?"

She let go of me and rolled her eyes, smiling. "No! We have extras in there if he needs some. Anyways, _what _did I just see?"

"Well, there's lots of things you could've seen," I said, gesturing around the room. "I mean, there's the window, and the couch… ooh, and there's a_ really_ nice lamp that's hanging from the ceiling…"

Kairi grimaced. "Namine."

"And the coffee table…"

"Namine!"

I flinched. "What? I was just answering your question."

"No you weren't! Okay, let me rephrase. _What_ did I just see between _you_… and _Roxas_?"

_Man! Kairi sure knew how to get to the point._

"Nothing," I lied, laughing nervously. "We were just talking, that's all."

Kairi stared at me for a while (not like a stalker, don't worry!), then smiled. "Okay! Whatever you say…!"

And with that, she walked past me and back into the bedroom.

Before I could decipher what she meant by that, the bathroom door opened and Roxas walked out. "There! I washed my hands… Kai… ri…" His voice faded when he realized that I was the only one standing in the living room, amidst the golden sunlight shining down into the room from the sunset outside the French windows. His cheeks turned pink as he hiccuped.

I laughed as a soap bubble floated around in the air.

**(:**

"So you actually tried the soaps?" I laughed, clarifying the story Roxas had just told me about his time in the bathroom.

Roxas laughed. "Yeah. I mean, Kairi was right, they were pretty cool. There was one that looked like a cinnamon roll! And they actually do taste the way they look…"

I smiled and rolled my eyes.

We were alone (thanks to Kairi and her idea of convincing everybody that Brad Pitt was getting some crepes from the faculty lounge). It was nice to finally spend time with him after a whole year.

We had just come back from the freshmen welcoming dinner and the sky outside the French windows was a deep shade of blue, with small, twinkling stars that overlooked the ocean.

Roxas sat on Kairi's bed while I sat on mine, my white, 600-thread count comforter wrapped around me. The window in between us was open, the curtains blowing slightly from the cool breeze that floated in.

I wasn't sure if Roxas and I were considered to be exes, since our relationship was just a summer love kind of thing, but the thing that made it really weird for us was that we had gotten _serious_. So serious that he was my first kiss. And my family and I had to leave so abruptly from our visit last summer that I never really got to say a proper goodbye to him. So there wasn't any closure.

But as far as things are going, I guess Roxas and I are pretty okay.

Roxas stretched and yawned. "You know, ever since you left…" he stopped in mid-sentence when the sound of thudding footsteps became louder from the hallway outside.

Ever since I left _what_?! I wanted to ask, but before I could, he jumped off the couch and walked over towards the double doors.

He turned around and gave me a small smile. "That's probably Hayner looking for me." He rolled his eyes at the thought. "Goodnight, Nami."

I blushed at the way he used the nickname I allowed only close people to call me. "Goodnight, Roxas."

"We'll talk," he said as he closed the door.

I threw my comforter aside and layed down. I thought of all the things Roxas could've said after that one sentence. Maybe he missed me? Or he vowed to never go out with any other girl until we crossed paths again? Or… maybe… what if he really actually _did _find someone else?!

Before I could ponder over it any longer, the double doors slowly opened and Kairi poked her head in.

"Hey," she greeted with a small smile. She stepped in. "Why'd Roxas leave so early? I saw him walking down the hall just a while ago."

"Hayner was probably looking for him," I replied, walking over to my drawer and pulling out my pink Hello Kitty pajama pants and a black, paint-splattered v-neck tee. "Where's Selphie and Olette?"

"Oh, them?" She smiled evily. "Let's just say they were mad about the whole Brad Pitt thing."

**;)**

At exactly seven o'clock the next morning, Kairi, Selphie, Olette, and I were sliding our hands over the smooth mahogony banisters as we decended down the one of the two staircases that spiraled gracefully to the foyer floor. We were dressed in our uniforms; a white, collared, short sleeve, button down blouse, a black v-neck vest that was emblazoned with the gold and burgundy academy crest, a gold and burgundy striped tie, a dark gray pleated skirt that only went down to our mid-thighs (eek!), black knee high socks, and any shoes we wanted (just as long as they were black).

Kairi, Selphie, and Olette had decided to look totally preppy and tucked in their blouses and button up every button, wore black converse or vans, and did their ties right – I, on the other hand, decided to leave my blouse untucked with the first two buttons unbuttoned, wore Mary Janes, and left my tie loosesly made and tucked it in under my vest.

"You're so good at making outfits look pretty!" Kairi complained for the millionth time as we walked down one of the really fancy hallways. "I knew I should've left my blouse unbuttoned!"

"Whoa, Kai, who are _you _trying to impress?"

The four of us stopped in our tracks and twirled around at the familiar voice. We smiled as Sora Chikamatsu, Hayner Ishimaru, Pence Sasaki, Demyx Adachi, Zexion Kuroki, (my new guy aquantances) and Roxas, walked towards us.

Kairi blushed a deep shade of red and laughed nervously. "I didn't mean it _that _way, Sora…"

He laughed. "Yeah, I know. I was just kidding."

They gave each other smiles and suddenly, I became curious.

_Sora and Kairi… Hmm… I guess now it's _my _turn to get you two alone…_

I couldn't ponder over the subject long enough to come up with ideas when Roxas walked over towards me as everybody started talking to each other. I noticed that he was a daredevil too, since he went all out when it came to wearing the uniforms, just like me. Instead of tucking in his white, long sleeve dress-shirt, he scrunched up the sleeves and tucked only part of it into his dark blue PacSun skinny jeans (when he was supposed to wear black slacks), and he wore his tie loosely around his collar, which was left unfolded. He also wore his black and white Vans skate shoes.

"I hope your aunt doesn't get mad," he said, smiling as he pointed at his jeans. "All the guys thought the slacks were pretty gay, so we wore our jeans instead."

I looked around and, needless to say, the guys were all wearing their skinny jeans. "Yeah, well, my aunt _is_ considering a change in the uniforms."

Roxas laughed and looked over at Sora and Kairi, who were deep in their coversation. "So… Sora and Kairi, huh?"

I smiled and said, "Yeah. They make such a cute couple!"

Roxas laughed. "Just like you and…" he stopped mid-sentence, _again_.

"What?" I asked, tilting my head to the side a little.

"N-nothing," he replied, scratching the back of his head. "It's stupid. Don't worry about it."

I cocked an eyebrow.

"Namine!"

I turned around at the familiar voice and saw Aunt Amanda strolling towards us. She instantly made me homesick – she looked almost exactly like Mom, except she had naturally straight black hair with lots of choppy layers and thinned out ends and green eyes instead of blue. She was also shorter by a few inches, but was still as tall as a supermodel. In fact, that was what I thought she was – a supermodel – as she walked towards us in navy blue button down rompers from Hollister and a long, brown beaded necklace.

"Whoa, who's _that_?" Hayner asked as he stepped next to me.

Olette slapped him on the arm and Roxas rolled his eyes.

"Hi, Aunt Amanda!" I greeted, beaming.

"Honey, for the last time, just call me Amanda," she replied, stopping in front of me and my friends. She beamed at everybody. "Hello. Are you guys Namine's friends?"

Everybody smiled and nodded as Hayner cut in front of me.

"You know," he started, stuffing his hands into his pockets and smirking. "Hot girls like you shouldn't be walking these halls alone."

Aunt Amanda blinked. "Oh, I'm sorry, Hayner. You must've mistaken me for someone else. But thank you for that flattering yet _very _inappropriate comment."

"Hayner," I whispered, putting my hand on his broad shoulder as everybody behind me started snickering. "She's the headmistress. _And_ my aunt."

Hayner slowly turned his head back towards Aunt Amanda and laughed nervously. She crossed her arms and cocked a perfectly plucked eyebrow.

"I-I'm gonna go…" he said, pointing towards the end of the hallway behind us. Then he rushed off in the other direction.

**xD**

"So what exactly is Olette looking for?" Roxas asked as he scanned a row of books on the almost-ceiling-high mohagony bookshelf in front of him.

I tied my hair up in a ponytail, then pushed the rolling ladder down the aisle. "I think she said something about the history of Twilight Academy…?"

"Huh." Roxas looked up at me as I climbed the ladder. "She should really get away from these things."

I laughed. "Yeah, well, it's gonna be pretty impossible."

Roxas chuckled. "You know, you haven't changed all that much."

"I'm not sure if that's supposed to be a compliment, but look who's talking."

Roxas smirked as he leaned against the bookshelf, his hands in his pockets.

I scanned the spines of some of the books in front of me – _Notable Twilight Inventions Through the Ages, The Chronicles of Chemical Warfare, _and _Twilight Academy: a History._

"Yes!" I whispered, pulling the history book out from its perch on the shelf.

"You found something?" Roxas asked, even if the answer was pretty obvious.

I climbed down the ladder a few steps, then jumped off. I handed the book to Roxas. "Here. So what's next on Olette's list?"

Roxas smiled as he pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket. "Something about the finer points of macroeconomics." He blinked, then looked up at me. "Whatever _that_ is."

I laughed. "I'm on it."

Roxas and I smiled at each other one last time before making our separate ways – Roxas was going back towards the table where the rest of the freshmen class were, getting mini-lessons from Olette on some of the topics we would be covering this year, and I made my way to the macroeconomics aisle.

I slowly read each of the golden plates on the sides of the shelves – _Languages, Conversational Topics, Molecular Chemistry, _and then, _Macroeconomics_.

Right when I turned the corner and into the macroeconomics aisle, I stepped back and cocked an eyebrow.

A freshman I had seen during our orientation and acclimation tour earlier today was blocking my entrance into the aisle. Her glossy black hair stuck out at odd angles and her gray eyes seemed to flash with anger.

"Hi?" I greeted slowly, readying myself to use my mixed karate skills (yeah, she kinda looked about ready to attack).

"He doesn't like you." Her soprano voice was eerie and cold-hearted.

I blinked. "_Who _doesn't like me?"

"Are you as stupid as you look?!"

I gasped.

_Oh my God! I don't even _know_ this girl and she's going all out on me _already_?!_

"Excuse me, but the whole dumb blonde thing sometimes isn't true," I countered, placing my hands on my hips.

"Like I'd believe that coming from a dumb blonde herself."

"What are you…?"

"Roxas. I'm talking about Roxas. He doesn't like you. He likes _me_. And you'd better get it, because if I _ever_ catch you talking to him_ ever_ again, you'll be sorry."

I opened my mouth to say something witty, but the girl flipped her hair over her shoulder and walked away.

"Hey, look," I heard Zexion announce in his usual flat tone. "The rest of the student body is here."

I looked through a large gap between two books on the shelf next to me and saw that everybody laughed as they all rushed through the massive, open doors of the library and out into the hallway outside.

Everybody except for Roxas. Instead, he craned his neck back towards the bookshelves where we used to be, together, and his usually bright blue eyes searched in between the shelves for me.

But somehow, I didn't want to come out of hiding.

The girl who totally talked crap to me walked up to him and brushed his cheek with her finger, as if to prove her point. Roxas stepped back and gave the girl a mean look that sent shivers down my spine.

Moments after the girl left, he gave the bookshelves one last glance, then walked away.

My mouth went slack.

"Excuse me?" the librarian, Mrs. Pasternak, asked from behind me. "Are you lost, dearie?"

I didn't turn around. "Completely."

**T___T**

"WHAT?!" Kairi screamed as I finished telling Olette, Selphie, and her about my little run-in at the library an hour later.

"Could you be any louder, Kai?" Olette asked, rolling her eyes and climbing out of her bed.

"But this is serious, Olette," Selphie asked in her usual sweet voice. "Namine was threatened."

"I know, I know." Olette walked across the room and pulled a book out from the bottom drawer of her dresser. "Here." She walked over to my bed and threw the book into my lap. "I don't remember seeing a girl with black hair and gray eyes at Destiny Islands Junior High. You should look through there."

I looked down at the navy blue cover and read the golden words that said, _Traverse Intermediate Yearbook_. "Where'd you get this?" I asked, looking up at Olette with wide eyes. "I thought you went to Destiny Islands Junior High."

Olette smirked as she sat back down on her bed. "I did. But my cousin always hides all of his unwanted stuff at my house whenever he comes over, so _that_ probably ended up in my suitcase. And that's last year's yearbook, by the way."

I flipped through the glossy pages of the eighth grade section, looking for a pair of gray eyes. It took me a few minutes, even with the help of Kairi and Selphie as they loomed over me. Then I saw it.

"Brittany Ayugai?" I asked, reading the cursive print under her picture.

"Oh, I knew it!" Selphie exclaimed.

Olette looked at her one of best friends, surprised. "What are you talking about?"

"I used to live in Traverse Town before I moved to Destiny Islands in sixth grade, remember?" Selphie explained, plunking her butt down on the window seat between my bed and the apple green wall at the end of the room. "Brittany was in all of my classes and she was pretty popular. She was known to be the prettiest girl at Traverse Elementary." She rolled her eyes. "And once, she had this really big rumor going around. She supposedly hooked up with a senior one night."

I gagged.

"I know, right?" Selphie smiled at me, then her expression went grim. "She visited Destiny Islands last summer and developed a _huge _crush on Roxas. But then she saw him kiss a girl at Griffinth Park one day during a sunset. She went _crazy_."

I gulped. That girl was _sooo_ me!

"How do you know all of this?" Kairi asked, her eye twitching.

"Brittany and I caught up once that summer." Selphie laughed nevously, scratching the back of her head. "But I didn't want to tell you guys about it for some strange reason."

"Forget _that_!" Olette exclaimed, throwing up her arms. "Who was the girl he was kissing? And at Griffinth Park during a sunset? She must've been really special to him."

I held my breath.

Selphie shrugged. "Brit didn't say."

"Any details?" Olette asked.

Selphie shook her head.

"Well, whoever this girl was, she's probably out of his life," Kairi quipped. "A summer fling, maybe? He never mentioned meeting anyone last summer."

"So the whole reason _Brittany_" – I mocked her name – "yelled at me is because she likes Roxas?"

"She must've seen you talking to him or something," Kairi said, a hint of a smirk on her face. "She's high-maintanence like that."

Olette looked down at her recently synchronized watch. "Hey, you guys?"

Everybody looked over at her.

"It's time for the welcome back dinner."

**:/**

I walked through the massive, open doors of the Grand Hall and looked around. It looked so much like one of the fancy little resturants back in Destiny Islands. The walls were a soft golden color and crystal chandeliers hung from the high ceiling. The tall windows were surrounded by long, red velvet curtains as the orange light of the sunset poured in from the glass, shining down on all the long, white tableclothed tables and their silver chairs. Another longer table stood at the front of the hall and behind the dark podium, facing the rest of the tables. A balcony hung over the massive doors with smaller, four-person tables and overlooked the rest of the hall, probably reserved for guests. The tables had clear vases with purple lilies as table decorations and the china was pure white with stainless steel utensils. A large, plasma screen hung on the wall behind the head table and read, "English – American". The student body was seated at their usual tables, talking and laughing as everyone talked about their summers.

Once I settled into the silver chair next to Roxas, we smiled at each other, and I didn't care what that stupid Brittany girl had to say about us (she was sitting at the other end of the table anyway, with her best friends, Tiffany Kaima and Elana Kamio).

"Well well well, if it isn't the _newbies_," a familiar voice called from behind me.

I turned around and saw my new sophomore aquaintances, Riku Kurmochi, Axel Masoni, Larxene Mifune, and Yuffie Kisaragi. Apparently, everybody else had known them for a while except for me, so Roxas had introduced me to them earlier, after they had all climbed out of the black stretch limos that had taken them from the airport. Riku was tall and muscular, with long, silver hair and a mysterious personality, Axel had flaming red spikes and a laid-back additude, Larxene was a blonde and was pretty cocky, and Yuffie was just happy.

"What do you want?" Roxas asked in an aggrivated voice.

Riku shot him a look and the both of them smirked and bumped fists.

I looked across the table and over at Pence, who shrugged at my confused expression.

"_Insider,_" he mouthed.

"We have some news," Yuffie started as she pushed Riku over. "Buckingham's not gonna teach CoveOps anymore!"

"She's doing some semi-retirement thing," Larxene added in her usual bored tone. She looked down at me with her bright green eyes and smiled. "She's gonna be your aunt's assistant instead."

"And how does this affect us…?" Xexion asked, his brow furrowing.

"Buckingham usually just shows us slides from missions and tells horror stories about her time out in the field," Axel replied. "Easy stuff. But _this_ year…"

"We're getting a new teacher!" Yuffie glowed.

A loud murmur ripped through the enormous room as Aunt Amanda strolled through the doors at the back of the hall, followed by the twenty teachers that I would be learning from for the rest of my high school career.

Riku, Axel, and Larxene all rushed into their seats at the table next to us as Yuffie plunked down into the empty seat next to me.

She smiled, then leaned in and pointed to one of the teachers. "You see that dude? That's Professor Smith, the Countries of the World teacher. He literally comes back every summer with a whole new look. Speaking of which, I think he got a bigger nose, new ears, and a mole. Eww. He does it to hide what he calls the most wanted face on three continents! Like, seriously, he's wanted by gun smugglers in the Middle East, ex-KGB hit men in Eastern Europe, and a pretty upset ex-wife in Brazil. God! I was really hoping that he would come back as a woman this year!"

I smiled as I watched the teachers settle into their seats at the head table. Aunt Amanda stood behind the podium and flashed the hall with a smile.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen," she greeted in her melodic voice. "I'm assured that everybody had a nice flight?"

"YEAH!" a loud voice boomed from the senior table at the other side of the hall. "THANKS FOR THE CHOCOLATE!"

Chuckles erupted from the room as everybody agreed.

"You're welcome, Alex," Aunt Amanda beamed at him. Then she addressed the rest of the school's population. "Welcome back students," she said, beaming. "This is going to be a wonderful year here at Twilight Academy. For our newest members" – she looked towards us and Yuffie quickly turned away (probably hoping not to be caught hanging out at the freshmen table instead of the sophmore's)- "welcome. You are about to begin the most challenging years of your young lives. Rest assured that you would not have been given this challenge were you not up to it. To our returning students, this year _will _mark many changes. We have come to a time when…"

But before she could finish, the doors at the back of the hall bursted open and Yuffie looked like she was going to fall out of her chair. Even the seniors, after three whole years of spy training, looked like they weren't prepared for what they saw.

A man that totally looked like Mr. Matthews from _90210 _walked down the large gap between the fresh/soph and upperclassmen tables, towards the front of the hall. He wore a leather jacket and had two days' growth of a beard, his emerald green eyes dazed with sleep, even if he seemed fully awake.

I looked over at the head table and noticed that one of the chairs had stayed empty up until now.

"Sorry I'm late," the man said, taking a seat at the empty chair.

Riku, Axel, and Larxene all looked back at us with serious expressions as Yuffie clutched my arm, probably cutting off blood circulation.

Roxas and I exchanged scared expressions.

_What was going on?!_

* * *

**UHM, WAS THAT EVEN A CLIFFHANGER?**

God, I had such a hard time writing this chapter! IHATEITIHATEITIHATEIT! (I wonder if you can read that without your eyes hurting, LMFAO!) I really only liked all the Roxas & Namine parts though (of course).

I'm pretty sure you guys are surprised at Namine's reaction to seeing Roxas again. In most of the stories I've read, Nami usually runs, doesn't she? Or like the way Lebrezie said it; that she pulls down the hat she was wearing and dives under the bed. BUT NO! I've made our little artist brave & splunky. I hope you like it! It was a twist I wanted to add. (;

Review. That's all I'm asking. :D


	4. Covert Operations

**YEAH…  
**I didn't get a lot of reviews last time, I don't think. Maybe it's because I either posted this new chapter too fast or chapter three wasn't really all that great. Totally understandable, though – I really hated chapter three too! :D But I think this chapter is a whole lot better, trust me. (; && yes, I strive on constructive critism.

**LEMONADESKIES!!!  
**We haven't kept in touch for a while now, I think. LOL. :X BUT IT'S ALL GOOD! Now, remember, this story is dedicated to her! :D

**WTF?! A NEW DISCLAIMER?!  
**(The one mentioned in chapter one still counts!) Okay, if I owned any of the Gallagher books by Ally Carter, then I'd take _lemonadeskies_ with me and we can go off to Roseville, Virginia, and look for the Gallagher Academy. Then we'd educate ourselves in the art of espionage! :X God, I'm such a dork.

**YAY! IT'S A SUPER LONG CHAPPIE!  
**I swear, my fingers were ON FIRE after I finished writing this. Eleven pages on Microsoft Word 2007 in two days… I think it's a record! (Parties all night long with reviewers, non-alchoholic drinks, twenty-two different types of cookies, and over forty-one flavors of ice cream.) LMAO, dude! && yes, it's the best chapter so far, except for the first one, which started it all. (:

* * *

**4. Covert Operations**

"The guy that came in during dinner last night is _sooo _hot!" Yuffie exclaimed as she, Xion, and I walked towards CoveOps the next morning. She stepped in front of us and we almost ran into her. She grabbed my shoulders. "And the fact that he's teaching us how to do things out _there_" – she pointed towards the direction of Twilight Town – "makes him that much more hotter!"

"Calm down, Yuffie," Xion said, rolling her big, beautiful blue eyes and crossing her arms. "You've only laid your eyes on him for ten seconds and you're already obsessing over him?"

I stifled a laugh behind my hand.

Yuffie placed her hands on her hips and cocked her head. "No no no. It was exactly twelve-point-five seconds, not ten."

"Does it matter?" Xion spat back gently.

"Oh, yes it does." She looked back and forth between the both of us. "You'll both learn that you have to be exact about _everything _to be successful out in the field. That's why they only accept geniuses at… spy school."

A group of senior guys passed by and a total Roxas-look-alike gave Yuffie a half nod. She nodded back, a smirk on her face, then turned back towards us.

"Well, I have Countries of the World with Professor Smith right now, so I gotta go."

Xion and I smiled as we waved her away.

After she took a few steps, she turned back and said, "Oh, and… Good luck in there."

As I watched her walk away, I suddenly realized that I would need it.

Xion gave me a small nudge and we turned to stand in front of a wide, full-length glass mirror. We waited and tried not to blink or do anything that might confuse the optical scanner. Green lights came from the eyes of the portrait on the wall behind us, scanning us up and down a few times. After a few seconds, the mirror slid open and revealed a small elevator that would take us one floor beneath the basement, which the student body likes to call, Sublevel One.

I turned to Xion and smirked at her. "We're in."

It took the elevator a few seconds to take us down to Sublevel One, but once the metal doors slid open, a world of frosted glass and stainless steel furniture greeted us. The frosted glass walls of the wide hallway held doors that lead to the CoveOps classroom, a few large labs, a computer room with hi-tech technology, a large library, and a room that held obstacle courses for training.

"This place is amazing," Xion wondered aloud, her voice barely above a whisper as we walked across the waxed, white linoleum floors in our Mary Janes. "I've seen football stadiums that are so much smaller than this."

"I heard that if you take one of the books from the library upstairs, it'll disintegrate itself so you can't read anything from it," I quipped, refering to what Professor Buckingham had said about Sublevel One on our orientation and acclimation tour. "Books down here are _that _classified."

Xion smirked as we walked through the double doors that led to our classroom.

Xion and I joined our classmates at the long, stainless steel table, plunking our butts down on the high stools. I sat across the table from Roxas and I really _desparately_ wanted to say hi to him, but then again_, Brittany_ was sitting next to him. So I avoided eye contact. Roxas seemed to get the idea and played along.

We waited in silence as we anticipated the arrival of our CoveOps teacher (the _girls_, mostly), but after uhh… three minutes, ten seconds, and fifty-three milliseconds (just to be exact), we started becoming impatient. Xion twirled her thumbs as she sat next to me, staring at Brittany with a cold look and whistling a small melody.

Olette kept looking at her watch so often, it looked like she had a twitch. "Where is he?" she asked loudly, making everyone jump. "He's four minutes late! And spies are _never _late."

Nobody replied, and I heard the grumbling stomachs of most of the girls in the room, since they had decided to skip breakfast to make themselves look pretty for our new teacher. But Olette, Xion, and I had opted for a full breakfast with the guys.

I was just about to sneak Kairi the muffin I had promised her I would ask from Chef Louis at breakfast, but then our hot new teacher strolled in, freshly shaved and showered.

I could've sworn I heard dreamy sighs from the girls in the class as he walked towards the front of the classroom.

"_Qui etait la personne dans le portrait que vous avez numerisees sur votre facon_?" he shot at us.

I searched the room with my eyes, waiting to see if anyone knew French well enough to understand that he just asked us who the person in the portrait that scanned us was. But apparently, I was the only one in the room who knew French.

After a few seconds, I replied, "Alexander Twilight."

I felt the eyes of my classmates glance over at me as our teacher nodded in approval.

"_I despues entre en esta sala, me han dejado huellas dactilares en tres lugares distintos. Nombre de ellos_!" he asked in Spanish, more towards me than the rest of the class.

He had asked for the three places he had left his fingerprints ever since he stepped into the room. I thought for a second, then answered, "Your shirt, the left front pocket of your pants, and…"

He waited.

"The doorknob."

He smirked his approval.

Xion gave me a thumbs up as Brittany fumed across the table from me. She looked like she was going to flip it over and knock me out.

"What is the square root of 97,969?" our teacher asked in Japanese.

Everybody in the classroom sighed in relief. Japanese was pretty much the language we all grew up with. But at the same time, we were all stumped at what the answer to the question was.

After three seconds, Olette piped up, "Three hundred and thirteen," reminding us that math was a universal language.

I beamed at her and she winked.

Our teacher sat down on the corner of his desk, one foot on the floor and the other hanging off the side. "Pretty good, you guys. But most of you _failed _your first pop quiz."

I craned my neck over towards Olette and saw that she looked completely mortified.

"Future spies like you should have already taken a language or two during your junior high lives," our teacher continued, now walking around the table, his arms crossed over his neatly pressed blue, pinstriped, button down shirt. "And if you took those sissy home ec or woodshop classes instead, then you have a_ long_ way to go before you even have a slim chance of passing this class."

He stopped walking and turned to face us, his gorgeous green eyes searching our eyes. "Welcome to Covert Operations. I'm Joe Solomon. I've never taught before, but I've been living, eating, and breathing this stuff for ten years. And since I'm standing before you today, I guess it means that I know my stuff. This is _not _going to be like your other classes."

Kairi's stomach grumbled and Olette shushed her as if she could make it stop.

"I'm going to get you guys ready for what's out there." He continued, pointing up towards the ceiling and out into the rest of the world. "It's not for everyone, so I'm going to make this hard on you. Impress me, and those elevators will take you one floor lower. But," – he clapped his hands together – "if I think this stuff's not cut out for you, then I'll save your life and put you on the Operations and Research track. Now, does _anybody_ think that they won't be able to handle what's out there?"

Mr. Solomon's eyes searched the room, waiting for any hands to rise.

Suprisingly, none went up. Not even Olette's. She has the brains, but definitely none of the brawn.

Mr. Solomon smirked. "Good. Everyone in this business starts out thinking that everything's an adventure filled with clues and jet packs. But _nothing _about this stuff is like that. If you can't get out from behind those desks and show me something other than book smarts, then none of you will ever see Sublevel Two."

The air in the room fell heavy, almost sufficating, as everyone continued listening.

Mr. Solomon started walking around the table again, this time, with his hands in his pockets. "The lucky ones come home, even if it _is _in a box."

**:O**

By the third week of school, my bag was a probably heavier than I was, I had a mountain of homework, and the sign above the Grand Hall was announcing that we'd all better learn our French if we intended to make small talk over lunch and dinner. Tons of rumors had been floating around lately, and it was pretty hard to keep rumors separated from the facts.

In P&E (Protection and Enforcement) class one day, Roxas kicked Brittany so hard, she was out cold for an hour. FACT (thanks to the private mixed karate lessons I had given to him outside of P&E class). Larxene had gotten kicked out of her summer Algebra 2 tutoring class because she was pregnant with her private tutor's baby. RUMOR. Olette had told a senior that her hair looked like a wig (which it was, thanks to an unfortunate plutonium incident). FACT (go, Olette!) Brittany told Professor Buckingham that she should try control-top pantyhose and had to spend the day in Aunt Amanda's office. FACT.

"I can't believe how hard CoveOps is!" Olette exclaimed as we walked towards the elevators. She shuffled through the deck of flash cards she was holding. "I totally should've taken the Operations and Reasearch class instead."

"Yeah, but CoveOps is a requirement this semester," Xion quipped, crossing her arms the way she usually does.

"_Yeah, but CoveOps is a requirement this semester_."

The three of us stopped in our tracks and craned our necks to look behind us. Needless to say, the high-pitched mock had come from Brittany. Tiffany and Elana (Brittany's best friends, if that were even possible) stood behind her, their hands on their hips as they posed.

Before I could tell what was happening, Xion had flown from her spot next to me, pinned Brittany's right arm behind her back with one hand, and grabbed her diamond nose ring with the other. Tiffany and Elana gasped and held onto each other.

I rolled my eyes. Even Olette looked like she wanted to deck Twilight Academy's worst trio.

"If you _ever _mock me and my friends again, I _swear _you'll never wish you got this nose ring," Xion warned, her voice firm as she wiggled Brittany's peircing.

Xion was a natural-born spy. And my best friend. And she was pretty strong (trust me – the bruise on my arm kinda says so), so pretty much any girl would've been freaking out if they were in Brittany's shoes at that moment. But the strange part – Brittany wasn't freaking out. She was smiling! In fact, it looked like she was about to burst out laughing.

"Xion," A male voice called from behind me.

I was about to grab that person's arm and flip him over me, but then I stopped when I turned around and saw that it was Mr. Solomon.

He looked at Xion, who was slowly allowing blood to creep back into Brittany's arm. "I understand you could get into serious trouble for that."

It was pretty much true. Twilight students don't fight in the hallways. We don't slap and we don't shove. Even if we spend most of our days perfecting the Wendelsky Maneuver in P&E (and occasionally in CoveOps), it was against the rules to use what we learned against others in the mansion. Ever.

"If you're so eager to show off, you and your friends can take point tonight." Solomon looked at me and Olette, who was gripping on a flashcard that listed the top five places to look for black market explosives like it was her only hope for life. "Good luck."

I felt my eyebrow raise at Mr. Solomon's words. Then I craned my neck and saw a yellow piece of Evapopaper (paper that comes in all these colors and yummy flavors that you can eat!) that was taped to the large mirror that hid the CoveOps elevator.

"What?" Olette asked as the both of us took a step closer towards the mirror. "Is it out of order or…?"

And then she got her answer.

_Freshmen C.O class canceled.  
Meet outside tonight. 7:00.  
Don't wear your uniforms!  
-Solomon_

Olette's reflection appeared in the mirror beside mine, and our eyes locked. Then I noticed that by now, the whole freshmen class was standing behind us.

Selphie pushed her way through the crowd and stood in between me and Olette. "Ooh, how fun!" she exclaimed after reading the note.

Things were about to get pretty interesting.

**(;**

"I don't know why Brittany and her best friends have to spend _hours _getting ready for tonight," Olette complained as she pulled on a pair of denim shorts and a simple orange tank top. "Seriously, Traverse Town is always a year behind when it comes to fashion."

"Why do you think I left them to hang out with you guys?" Xion asked from her perch on the windowsill between my bed and the back wall of the bedroom. She was wearing a black American Eagle pullover hoodie, deep blue PacSun skinny jeans, white Coach sunglasses, and black converse. She wore her raven black hair up in a high ponytail.

I smirked as I pulled on one of my favorite Forever 21 outfits – a white v-neck, a long blue and gray striped sleeveless button-up cardigan, metalliac silver shorts, a blue slouchy beanie, a long necklace with blue feather charms, and gray Bailey Button Uggs.

"Yeah, but didn't you burst into our dorm room asking for fashion advice?" Kairi countered.

"Yeah." Xion smiled. "So what?"

Selphie giggled and Olette rolled her eyes.

"You think we'll need bags?" Kairi asked, pulling out a Gucci bag from under her bed.

"Not if you aren't gonna be _out there _like Nami and Xion," Olette replied.

Selphie looked over at Olette. "Aren't you going too, Olette? I thought Mr. Solomon said that the three of you would take point tonight."

"Yeah, but I gave up my position to Roxas. He seemed eager to do it."

_Roxas is going undercover with me tonight? Oh my GOD!_

"Ohh!" Kairi exclaimed like a kid who finally understood a math problem. "Okay. So you're going Nami? If you are, then you should wear a bag."

"All set," I said, holding up my navy blue mini-duffle from American Eagle. "I have my Sidekick, credit card, twenty bucks, a compact mirror, and a pair of latex gloves."

"Great!" Olette exclaimed. Then she handed me a small stack of flashcards. "I know you know your stuff, Nami, but take these with you just in case. And share with Xion and Roxas."

Xion scooted over next to me as I shuffled through the cards. Then I realized that most of them were maps of the most popular places in Twilight Town. A few were about the basic rules of CoveOps.

"I don't think I need these, Olette," I said, handing them to Xion. "I barely moved to Destiny Islands, remember? I'm pretty sure I haven't forgotten my way around town yet."

Olette made an O shape with her lips as a knock from the living room doors reverberated through our suite.

I looked at the clock. 6:50. "It's time," I said.

**(:**

Mr. Moscowitz greeted us as we stepped out of the massive doors of the entrance of our mansion. I had to do a double take when I saw him standing at the foot of the concrete steps, smiling up at us from under his orange beret. I mean, sure, Mr. Moscowitz was the foremost authority on data encryption and was one of my nicer teachers, but his area of expertise was behind a desk, cracking codes for the CIA. So it was no wonder why I was so surprised when I realized that he would becoming with us on our little moonlight stroll.

He clapped his hands together, probably to stop his nervous shaking, but his voice wasn't anywhere _near _steady as he said, "Well, it's a big night… for all of us."

He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and looked out towards the lighted driveway of the mansion. The only thing I knew was out there was the manicured grass that looks totally innocent (except they're not – they're actually doors that lead to an underground garage where we kept the Twilight Academy helicopters and vans).

Roxas looked down at me and all I could do was give him a small smile. He looked so cute in his Black Durnkirk jacket from Fox, electric blue Volcom shirt, dark blue PacSun skinny jeans, and black and electric blue skater shoes.

Just then, the sound of squealing tires approached us and Roxas and I turned back towards the driveway to see a brown Twilight Mail truck roaring towards us.

"Gee, what's the package emergency?" Xion asked, stepping next to me.

But then the driver's-side door flew open and Mr. Solomon jumped out and yelled, "Get in!"

My mind instantly went back to one of Olette's flash cards. COVERT OPERATION #1 : DON'T HESITATE.

Mr. Moscowitz opened the cargo doors and I climbed inside, expecting to see flashing computer screens like the ones in the Twilight Academy vans, but wrapped packages were their replacements.

"Sweet," Roxas said as he took a seat next to me on the cold floor of the van.

"He stole this," Hayner added breathlessly.

"Yeah, don't touch any of the packages," Mr. Solomon called out as the last few freshmen took seats around the trunk of the van. He stepped onto the back bumper and held the roof of the truck for support as he turned back to face Mr. Moscowitz, who seemed to be even more nervous than before. "Harvey?" he asked, throwing Mr. Moscowitz the keys. "Clock's ticking."

Mr. Moscowitz smiled up at Mr. Solomon. "Yup. Sure thing." Then he looked into the van towards us. "And I'll see all of you out there."

"No you won't, Harvey," Mr. Solomon countered. "That's the point."

**:D**

"Operatives in deep cover will be given false histories," Mr. Solomon shot at us through the darkness of the van. "These histories are called…"

"Legends," I whispered.

Mr. Solomon gave me a small smile. "Very good, Miss Hikaru."

Roxas gave me a nudge and I looked over and saw him smile at me. I smiled back.

"For this mission, you are _all _going out there," Mr. Solomon continued. "You'll be in groups of three. Your legends as a group will be a couple of normal friends who are just hanging out. Do you think you can handle that?"

I blinked. "But Mr. Solomon, I thought you said that _my_ group would take point tonight."

Brittany looked like she wanted to mock me. Xion kept her eyes on her.

Mr. Solomon nodded. "Yes. I meant that you three have the hardest assignment."

I felt the air suddenly rush out of me. "Okay."

Mr. Solomon smirked. "Now, when conducting manual surveillance on a subject in a three-man rotation, the person with visual contact is the…"

"Eyeball," Olette answered.

"Correct. The person within sight of the eyeball is the…"

"Backup." Kairi sounded scared.

"And the final person…"

"The reserve." Sora's voice sounded a bit overconfident.

"Very good. Rotate frequently, but not too frequently. Vary your pace and spacing."

I felt the truck come to a stop as the engine turned off. A small light came on from the ceiling and bathed us in an orange-yellow glow as the sound of carnival music was faint in the distance.

We were at the Twilight Pier, which was just off the beach. I used to go here all the time with Dad when I was little, and my favorite ride had been the merry-go-round.

We all watched as Mr. Solomon placed a television monitor onto one of the shelves as he fiddled with some wires. Once everything was set up, the faces of the freshmen class showed up on the screen, in color and crystal clear.

Then he handed Roxas, Xion, and I earpieces. "Basic comms units. You know how to use them." He held out a pair of those really cute black nerd glasses, a skateboard, and a long, golden necklace with a key charm. "Cameras. Since you have the hardest assignment, _I'll _be the one to see your progress." The necklace was dangling from his forefinger, the image of my classmates swinging back and forth on the television screen. "Even if this is just a learning experience, don't expect any of us to come and rescue you."

Kairi and Olette looked like they were about to have a panic attack.

"It's okay, Kai," I heard Sora whisper. "I'll protect you!"

The carnival music suddenly became louder as the back doors opened, a flash of orange appearing as Mr. Moscowitz looked at each of us. "They're close," he said.

Mr. Solomon pushed the nerd glasses towards me, the skateboard towards Roxas, and the necklace towards Xion. "For our first group…" He plugged a wire into a speaker and the voice of Aunt Amanda joined in with the carnival music.

"It's a great night for fireworks," she said happily.

"There are three types of subjects that are always hard to surveil," Mr. Solomon said. "First, there are people who are trained. Then there are people who suspect that they are being followed. And last but not least… People that you know." He paused and pulled out a photo from the pocket of his jacket and held it up towards us.

For a second, I didn't recognize the face in the picture because of the dim light of the truck, but then a voice I totally recognized came blaring through the speakers. It fit perfectly with the picture.

"Yes, if only the fireworks show was on tonight."

I gasped.

"SHIT!" Xion exclaimed, and Olette dropped her flashcards.

"Smith," Roxas grumbled.

"Mr. Solomon, you expect us to tail Mr. Smith?" I asked in my calmest voice.

Mr. Smith was a cool teacher, for sure. But this was my first mission, and I had to deal with someone who has had thirty years of experience and is the single most paranoid human being on the planet! I mean, hello? He has the plastic surgury bills to prove it!

I sighed as I thumped my head on the metal wall behind me.

"But he never leaves the grounds," Xexion protested. "He would never enter an unsecured area. This goes against the subject's pattern of behavior."

But Mr. Solomon smiled and I felt my eyes grow wide as I realized what his plan was.

"You _knew _this mission was impossible!" I cried. Then my voice became a lot quieter. "That's why you gave it to us."

"Good. I'm glad we're on the same page. Oh, and keep in mind that _no one _knows Mr. Smith's patterns of behavior. But according to these files" – he held up a thick file with _Smith_ stamped across the front with red ink – "he _is _a big fan of funnel cakes."

"Well, have fun!" Aunt Amanda's voice blared through the speakers.

"Your mission is to find out what he drinks with those funnel cakes," Mr. Solomon continued.

I felt my eyebrow raise. I had been waiting _weeks_ for my first mission, and I had totally thought that I would have to retrieve top secret files or something. But instead, I had to find out what Mr. Smith likes to freaking_ drink_ with his freaking _funnel cakes_!

"Subject's at the ticket booth, Wise Guy," I heard Aunt Amanda whisper. "He's all yours."

I was about to point out how Mr. Solomon's codename totally didn't fit him, until he gestured to the doors and said, "Good luck."

**:D**

"I have eyeball," Xion said. "He's at the skee ball booth."

I saw her wearing her white Coach sunglasses, buying a corn dog from a booth ten meters away. Roxas passed inches from her, holding his skateboard as he walked towards me.

"Remember, Roxas," I heard Mr. Solomon's voice through the comms unit. "Keep your distance."

My position in our three-man rotation scheme was the reserve. I was supposed to be the person to keep an eye on my teammates and to make sure they didn't lose sight of the subject. In fact, he was only five feet away, doing pretty well at skee ball as I sat on a bench next to the booth he was at, licking my frozen yogurt.

"I hope he doesn't see you, Sketchbook," Roxas said as he smiled at me. He stopped at an art booth and bought some colored pencils (wha? he draws?!).

"You guys have really got to come up with a better nickname for me," I replied, smiling as I pressed my Sidekick to my ear to make it seem as if I was on the phone instead of talking into my comms.

"Yeah, _Skaterdude_," Xion mocked, laughing as she squirted some ketchup onto her corndog.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Mr. Smith look directly at me. He stared for a while as I took a few more licks of my frozen yogurt, but then he walked away in the other direction.

"Ooh, close one!" Xion exclaimed. I saw her smile. "Maybe we should call you _Chameleon _instead."

"Or Wonder Woman," Roxas laughed, and Xion shot him a look from across the wide aisle of game and food booths.

"That's the beauty of being a pavement artist," Mr. Solomon said. I could imagine him smiling.

It was true. Being a pavement artist didn't mean ducking behind dumpsters and dodging into doorways (because that only pretty much attracts attention). In fact, it meant _blending in_. I was luckier than most, because I was a natural born spy who already knew a lot of the things we had been learning lately. And I wasn't behind when it came to trends, either. So I fit in perfectly with the girls that were walking past me.

"Chameleon's good," I replied, winking at Roxas as he passed by me. "We should rotate."

"Reserve," Roxas agreed, slowing down his pace.

"Backup," Xion chimed in.

"Then I guess I'll be eyeball," I finished, watching as Mr. Smith turned around and walked back towards where he used to be.

Roxas ducked his head as he walked past our COW (Countries of the World) professor.

"Chameleon, where are you?" Xion asked frantically. I could see her standing on her tip toes as she searched over the heads of the crowd for me. "Wave your arms or something."

"That kinda defeats the purpose though, Raven," Roxas said, chuckling.

"But how am I supposed to watch you _and_ Smith if I can't…" Xion smiled a smile of relief when she saw me. "Oh, there you are."

I wasn't peeking from around a booth. I wasn't ducking into the nearby dunk tank to avoid being seen. Instead, I was sitting on a bench in plain sight. Seriously. That's the thing about surveillance – sometimes the best place to hide is to be in plain sight (quoted from one of Olette's flashcards).

"Yeah, but you're kind of at a disadvantage, Nam – I mean, Chameleon," Roxas quipped.

"Really," Xion asked flatly. "How?"

"Well, she's dressed nice, I guess… She's beautiful, and her blue eyes are practically sparkling."

I felt my cheeks turn pink.

Xion cleared her throat. "Back to the mission, Skaterdude…"

"Oh!" He chuckled. "Right. You look cute in those nerd glasses, Chameleon."

I smiled as I eyed Mr. Smith walking towards me in his black leather jacket, looking like a soccer dad who was worried about the mortgage. He passed two feet away from Roxas, who was whistling as he held the box of colored pencils in his hands, along with his skateboard. Then a grim expression crossed his face as he looked back.

"He's flipping," I whispered as I stood up and followed Mr. Smith.

Over the next minute and a half, I realized that our COW professor was pretty good at detecting tails – he was acting as if those KGB hitmen were stalking him or something. He used every countersurveillance technique in the book (or at least, the books I've read), and I realized how frustrating it must be for him. He couldn't go out for funnel cakes without "flipping", "corner clearing", and "breadcrumbing".

But I guess it was one of the cons of being someone who knows how to defend themselves.

I kept my distance behind him by ten feet, still using my pavement artist skills. I laughed when someone said something funny. I stopped to look at something interesting. It was the least I could do to blend in.

Once Mr. Smith turned around, my mind instinctively raced back to Olette's flashcards – People don't see_ things _as clearly as they see _motion_. So I stopped walking and let a large group of surfer boys walk past me.

I caught a glimpse of Mr. Smith's new face before he turned around and walked towards a refreshment stand.

"What would you like, sir?" the girl behind the counter asked, fingering a Coke Zero.

_Bingo_, I thought, fumbling with my Sidekick as I set it onto camera mode.

"I'll take a Sprite," Mr. Smith replied.

The girl reached into the cooler next to her and pulled out the green bottle. "Here you go, sir. That'll be a dollar fifty."

I heard the click of my little machine's camera as I took a picture of Mr. Smith holding onto the Sprite, all the while handing the girl a five dollar bill.

"Misson accomplished," I whispered as I flipped my Sidekick closed. I smiled as I heard Xion and Roxas give out sighs of relief.

"We still gotta get the evidence though," Xion said, walking towards the House of Mirrors, which was twenty feet away from me. "_Physical _evidence."

She waved me over and I was just about to tell her that it was bad form, until I felt something wet… and _cold, _land on my upper chest. I took a step back and gasped as I realized that it was frozen yogurt.

"SHIT!" a manly voice exclaimed.

I looked up to see a _very _cute boy rushing towards me. He dabbed a napkin against the dripping ice cream.

"I'm sorry!" he exclaimed, looking up at me. Then his dabbing slowly stopped as his eyes locked onto mine. He smiled. "Hey."

"Hi," I replied, laughing nervously.

He looked so much like Matt Lanter, with the same exact gray-ish blue eyes and dark brown hair, which was spiked up into something kind of like a mohawk (but a lot less extreme).

I was completely mesmerized, but then I took a swift glance over at the refreshment stand where Mr. Smith was standing a few seconds ago and saw that he wasn't there.

_Oh my God. He wasn't there!_

"I-I'm sorry," I said, stepping away from the Matt Lanter look-alike. "But I have to go."

"Wait!" he called after me as I rushed past him.

I put my finger to my comms and said, "Rotate, you guys,_ rotate_! I have lost visual with The Subject and the backup, I repeat, I have lost…" I stopped in my tracks when I saw Mr. Smith's black leather jacket dissapear into the entrance of the House of Mirrors, which was just a few feet away from me.

"Chameleon?" Xion panicked.

"He's in the House of Mirrors," I whispered.

"Damn," Roxas muttered.

Things were _definitely_ impossible now.

* * *

**ROXAS IS SO SWEET.  
**Period.  
So did you guys like it? I'm really excited to see how many reviews I'll get. This chapter was so much better than the last one, since I didn't have such a big writer's block on it. T_T  
This chapter isn't as good as the next one though...! (;

Review, review, review! (;


	5. Love Drunk

**YAYY! :D  
**Reviews came in really fast this time! :D Thanks again you guys, especially the new readers. (; I'm gonna start working on a section on my page that says, _FAQs About Cross My Heart & Hope to Spy_. Apparently, not everything in my story makes a whole lotta sense sometimes, so I'm going to take the questions you guys ask in your reviews && answer them. Hopefully, everything will make sense after that, lol. xD

**WHERE'S MY LEMONADE?!  
**(Cries) DHOWIEJOJOWIE. I miss her! ): Maybe she has school? Oh well. (: She's pretty much the reason I'm writing this. :D

**DISCLAIMERS!  
**Notice that it's plural. (: Yeah, my disclaimers are in chapters one & four, so check those out first before you report me to the authorities. :P

**Warning: **There's a (sorta) sad Roxas moment in here. But there's gonna be a happy part too, between Nami & Roxas. :D DON'T READ AHEAD!

* * *

**5. Love Drunk**

"But we can't go in there!" Xion exclaimed. I saw her peek inside the House of Mirrors (again, pretty bad form). "Smith can see every angle of himself! There are mirrors everywhere! We'll get made!"

"I-I remember going in there when I was little," I tried so hard to remember. "If we take the trajectory angle and apply them to the trigonometry formula of finding the angle of a shadow…"

I half-expected for Mr. Solomon to announce that we had failed or that my strategy wasn't going to work, but he didn't. I suddenly felt abandoned.

"Namine!" Roxas exclaimed as I eyed Mr. Smith coming out the side door of the House of Mirrors.

I ducked my head down as I passed inches from him towards Xion. I looked at the glare of the fake lenses my nerd glasses made and saw him turn back at me with a suspicious expression. Then he started rushing towards me.

"You guys?" I asked into the comms unit.

"Yeah?" Roxas asked.

"Run."

By now, Mr. Smith was running towards me, so I threw myself into the House of Mirrors. I tried finding my way around the maze, but then a hand closed over my mouth.

"Chameleon!" I heard Xion's voice coming from the entrance.

_NOOO!_

Mr. Smith looked over at her and smirked.

We were done for.

**D:**

Xion and I were sitting on a bench just outside the lights and music of the pier, the cool sand of the beach a few feet away as Mr. Smith paced back and forth before us.

"Miss Hikaru!" he yelled, leaning over me.

I crossed my arms and slouched, trying my best to look totally bored.

"I want to know what you two are doing here!" Smith demanded. He turned to Xion. "Miss Asari, you are going to tell me why you and Miss Hikaru have left campus. You are going to explain why you've been following me for thirty minutes, and…" I watched as his expression change as something dawned on him. "And you are going to tell me where Joe Solomon is right now."

Xion and I looked at each other for a long time before we turned back towards our COW professor.

"I had a craving for a corn dog," Xion replied flatly.

"Where are you guys?" I heard Roxas ask through the comms.

Apparently he didn't see us being dragged out of the pier.

"So…" I started as Mr. Smith gave me a cold look. "Why exactly did you take us _outside _of the pier next to the _ticket booth_?"

"Damn," Roxas probably muttered that through gritted teeth.

"Because I didn't want to make a scene," Mr. Smith answered. He threw a Sprite bottle into the nearby trashcan and Xion and I resisted the urge to gasp. "Get up. We'll finish this discussion back at school."

**:/**

"What are we doing in here?!" Xion asked, frustrated as she sat on the chair next to me. "In the closet of the CoveOps classroom?!"

"Shhh," I said, putting a finger to my lips.

The both of us were sitting next to each other on chairs in the small, empty closet of the CoveOps classroom. A frosted glass door was the only thing that separated us from the rest of the freshmen student body as they sat at the long table of the classroom. Well, _most _of the student body.

Roxas was still gone.

He was probably on his way back from the pier. Most likely. Maybe. Hopefully. It had been a full hour and thirty minutes ever since Xion and I had arrived back at school with a very scary Mr. Smith. Our classmates had all passed their assignments, but I still had yet to find out if my group did well or not.

And it all depended on Roxas.

Just then, the double doors of the entrance of the classroom slid open and Roxas walked in, the green Sprite bottle in his latex-gloved hand.

Xion and I pressed our hands on the cool glass in front of us and peered out.

Our classmates were in their usual seats as Mr. Solomon leaned against a low bookshelf across the room from us, his hands against the wood as he casually leaned back. No one made eye contact with Roxas.

A long period of silence stretched out before Roxas held out the bottle to Mr. Solomon and said, "I got the bottle."

I waited for Mr. Solomon to smile and say "well done". But he didn't. He just kept his eyes on the white tiles of the floor and said, "Come in, Mr. Hikari. We've been waiting for you."

Roxas headed for his usual seat, but stopped in his tracks as his gorgeous blue eyes landed on the two empty seats across the table from him.

Those seats belonged to me and Xion.

"They should be back by…" Roxas started, but then Mr. Solomon picked up a remote and pressed on a button.

The room went dark, except for a sliver of light that shone from the projector above the long table where my classmates were seated.

An image glowed on the screen as Roxas's silhouette showed up at the corner, blocking part of the picture.

It took me a while to realize that the image was a picture of me, taken from behind, as I looked behind my shoulder, my nerd glasses making me unrecognizable.

I heard a click and a picture of Xion appeared. She was standing near the entrance of the House of Mirrors, waving her arms. It was really bad form, but Mr. Solomon didn't comment. His silence was so much worse.

Click. I was sitting on the bench next to the skee ball booth.

Another click. Xion was standing next to a funnel cake stand, her arms crossed.

"Oh my gosh," Xion sounded exasperated. "We were being stalked. But by who?"

"Ask the question, Mr. Hikari," Mr. Solomon said, his voice sounding ominous. "Don't you want to know where they are?"

Roxas looked like he was in pain as more images flashed on the screen, surveillance photos taken from a well-trained, well-placed team. I felt so stupid for not using the Strembesky technique of detecting a tail, when, after all, I had already mastered it. STUPID. STUPID. STUPID.

"Ask me _why _they're not here," Mr. Solomon continued. He sounded demanding. He crossed his arms. "You want to be a spy, don't you, _Skaterdude_?" Roxas's code name sounded like a mockery on his lips. "Now tell me what happens when spies get made."

"No!" Roxas yelled, but then another image appeared on the screen.

A girl's thin arms were bound behind a chair as her raven hair was dripping with blood.

I gasped as I realized that the picture was supposed to be what Xion would look like if she was ever made – bloody and swollen. I felt tears prickle at the corners of my eyes as I wanted Mr. Solomon to stop.

"They won't start with Xion, you know," Mr. Solomon went on. "They'll start with Namine."

Another picture appeared, but this time, the girl looked a whole lot like me. She was lying on the floor of what looked like an abandoned warehouse, surrounded by a pool of blood.

"These people are very good at what they do," Mr. Solomon continued, walking over and standing next to Roxas. They know Xion can take the punches – what hurts her the most is listening to her best friend scream." He paused. "And she _is _screaming – she will for about six hours, until she becomes so dehydrated she can't form sounds."

Roxas shook his head, unable to meet his teacher's eyes.

"And then they start on Xion. They have… _special things _in mind for her."

Roxas's expression changed from horrified to angry.

"This is what you're signing up for, Roxas. Look at what's happening to your friends!"

"Stop." Roxas's voice was firm, but I could sense the fear in his voice. He dropped the bottle and the neck broke, sending shards of green glass across the floor around him.

"You lost two-thirds of your team. Your friends are gone."

I could hear Xion's frantic breathing next to me.

"Once this starts, it doesn't stop. It _never_ stops."

I sighed as I realized that he was right.

Mr. Solomon turned to face the class. "So who wants to be a spy now?"

The class was silent. They were supposed to be.

"Next semester, Covert Operations willl be an optional field of study, but this semester, it's mandatory. No one gets to back out now because they're scared. But you won't ever be scared as you are right now – not this semester. And kids, if you aren't scared right now, then we don't want you anyway."

**:|**

I sat on the windowsill next to the open French windows, hugging my knees as I looked out at the gorgeous view of the beach and the rising morning sun. I thumped my head against the small wall behind me and sighed.

"Namine?" Roxas's voice was unmistakable from the living room.

"I'm in _here_," I muttered.

Roxas walked in and his eyes instantly brightened up. "Hey."

I gave him a small smile as I shifted into a sitting position, my long legs hanging off the side. Roxas sat down next to me.

"Missed you at breakfast," he said, giving me a warm smile.

I felt my cheeks turn a slight shade of pink.

"So how come you're not downstairs and talking about the new satellite-controlled detonators with the twelve-mile range with us and the sophomores?"

I laughed. "Shut up."

Roxas smiled. "No, really."

My smile slowly faded as I looked back out the window.

"Is it about what happened last night?"

I looked back over at Roxas and said softly, "You read me like a book."

"Namine." He reached for my hand and gently squeezed it. "It wasn't your fault."

I almost smiled at the fact that my fingers were intertwined with Roxas's. I locked eyes with him for a moment, then looked back down at the wooden floors. "I was the one who broke the rules of covert operations. I wasn't _covert_. I wasn't _stealthy_. I wasn't a _chameleon_."

"It doesn't matter. It was just some stupid assignment."

"Yeah, I know. But afterwards…"

"What did Mr. Smith do to you?"

"Nothing! I swear. Even if he's a retired CIA agent who knows his interrogation tactics, he wouldn't _dare_ hurt us. But when you walked into the CoveOps classroom and had to listen to what Mr. Solomon said, I…"

Roxas squeezed my hand even tighter. "I didn't care what he had to say. The only thing I was thinking about was _you_."

I felt my heart start to beat faster as I looked up at him. "Really?"

_Oh my God, what in the world was happening?!_

"Yeah." He smiled at me. "I know this sounds stupid, but I sorta thought Solomon was telling the truth when he said that you guys really were getting made."

I laughed. "I think you need another lesson on reading facial expressions."

Roxas chuckled. "You know, we should head to COW before we're late."

I looked over at the clock and saw that it read eight-twenty. "Okay."

He didn't let go of my hand as we made our way to class.

**(:**

Roxas and I had almost all of our classes together, but when it comes to Culture and Assimilation (C&A) class, we had to be separated. C&A isn't like our other classes. In fact, boys and girls are separated for a reason. And no, we weren't learning all that nasty stuff you usually learn in health. When a classroom is beautiful and refined, has French silk lining the walls, and crystal lighting fixtures, it reminds us girls that we don't just have to be spies – we have to be ladies.

It sort of frustrated me to wonder why we had to learn calligraphy and needlepoint, but there were days where I loved listening to Madam Dabney as she floats around the room with her monogrammed handkerchief in her hand, talking about lady-like things, like the history of the waltz.

I guess today was one of those days. I needed some _serious _down time after what happened last night, even if Roxas gave me more than half of the medicine I needed, metaphorically speaking.

The eight girls of the freshmen class were seated in our usual seats at the small, two-person tables that were tableclothed with burgundy silk, with a clear vase of yellow daises and cups of chamomile tea with honey. We watched Madam Dabney float around the room, her voice like white noise as she talked about proper table setting (you know, the fancy kind with all the different forks and stuff).

Then she looked down at her watch and gasped. "Oh dear, girls, look at the time. I'm afraid we'll have to continue our lesson tomorrow."

I started to swing my bag over my shoulder, but then Madam Dabney continued in an excited voice that kept my attention. "But before you leave today, girls, I have an announcement to make!"

Xion and I looked at each other for a moment before turning back to our graceful teacher.

"It's time for all of you to expand your education here at the Twilight Academy, so…" She readjusted her glasses. "… beginning after school, I am going to be teaching Driver's Ed!"

The room was filled with gasps and quiet whispers as Olette stood up from her seat.

"But Madam Dabney," she said in her gentlest voice. "We're only freshmen."

"Yes, but as spies, you're going to have to learn that things, even the worst things, are better to be done now than to be done later." She gave Olette a kind smile, then addressed the rest of the class. "Now, we'll be going out in groups of four – by suite." She smiled excitedly as she referred to a long piece of parchment (yeah, she uses parchment, and she's not really even that old!) Then she looked over at Kairi, Selphie, Olette, and me. "Starting with the four of you."

I smiled.

"Sounds like fun," Brittany said from the back of the room.

She was obviously sarcastic.

**:D**

Later that afternoon, storm clouds had rolled in, just in time for the effects of late October. So I had pulled out my black, button down blazer, which had gold and burgundy striped hems and the academy's crest on the left side. Then I pulled on a pair of black tights and dark gray and burgundy plaid shorts. It was the least I could do to keep warm while looking totally cute in the academy's uniform.

A cold wind blew our hair into our faces as my best friends and I trudged down the concrete driveway of the mansion, our hands in the pockets of our blazers. We headed towards an old Ford pickup truck, which was waiting for us, its yellow STUDENT DRIVER triangle gleaming in the little sunlight that peeked through the dark clouds above us.

"Ooooh! Girls! This is going to be such a delight!" Madam Dabney exclaimed as she floated towards us, wearing a purple _Give Safety a Brake! _shirt and a pair of jeans. Then she pointed out things like the brake and the accelerator to us.

It was pretty much the same as a golf cart (I always laugh whenever Dad says that golf is great for some quality family time), so I didn't pay much attention as I looked over at Olette, who was taking notes.

"Make sure you write down that the steering wheel is round," I said.

She literally had the WHE of wheel written down before she realized that I was joking. I half expected her to tell me not to make fun, but instead, she just laughed and said, "Good one," before writing down the rest of the sentence.

"Now girls," Madam Dabney said. "Let's focus." She gently placed her hands in a prayer positon before turning to Kairi and saying, "Kairi, dear, how do you feel about starting us out?"

Kairi smiled brightly and said, "Okay!"

The five of us settled into the black pickup truck, Kairi at the wheel and Madam Dabney in the front passenger seat, her glasses perched on the bridge of her nose as she started writing things down on her clipboard. I was sitting in between Selphie and Olette in the backseat, our seatbelts on for good measure.

Small droplets of rain started hitting the windows as Kairi started up the engine.

"We're ready when you are, Kairi," Madam Dabney smiled.

Kairi pressed her foot down on the gas and Selphie and Olette screamed as the truck gave a heavy lurch, almost sending me flying out of my seatbelt. Madam Dabney, unfortunately, flew forward and hit her head on the dashboard.

"Oh my gosh!" Kairi exclaimed, hitting the brakes. "Madam Dabney, are you alright?"

"Yes," Madam Dabney sounded like she was slurring as she rubbed her forehead. "Just keep on going, dear."

"Okay." Kairi said as she eased onto the streets.

As we made our way into Twilight Town, I couldn't help but think about how Roxas had held my hand this morning. It was so tingly – kind of like the feeling of true love? I wasn't sure. I looked down at my hand and tried to remember if I had felt it with Roxas last summer. But then my heart sank.

_What if he did it just to cheer me up?_

Just then, the sound of honking cars made me lose my train of thought. I looked out the large, tinted window at the front of the truck and nearly screamed… all because KAIRI WAS DRIVING ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE ROAD!

I knew she had learned how to drive last summer when she was visiting her cousins, who lived in _London_. So I guess she kind of forgot that America was different – _really _different.

I sort of forgot the ability to speak as we drove up one of those big hills that cross over freeways, because I knew that at any moment, my life would end. I felt dumbfounded when I realized that I was pretty much the only one paying attention to Kairi's driving, since Olette was working on bio-chem homework, Selphie was having a fingernail emergency, and Madam Dabney was writing on her clipboard.

My voice returned to me just in time for me to yell, "KAI!"

"What?" Kairi asked nonchalantly, righting the car onto the right side of the road – or the left – arg! (you get what I mean) before we were able to crash headfirst into a new Mercedes. Kairi was completely unfazed.

I slumped down in my seat and sighed in relief.

_Thank goodness one of my best friends didn't kill me today. _

After nearly running over a crossing guard from Twilight Elementary school, Kairi was asked kindly by Madam Dabney if she could pull into the large parking lot of a grocery store and trade places with me.

I thought Kairi would be dissapointed (because she looked like she was having a lot of fun putting our lives at risk), but instead, as we traded places, she was practically glowing (for reasons I feel _sooo_ confused about).

I adjusted the rearview mirror and saw Kairi trying to push Olette into the seat I used to sit in, but it was kind of hard because Olette had become… petrified.

Madam Dabney had pretty much learned her lesson with Kairi, because as I eased back on the streets, she had pointed out all of Kairi's mistakes and mishaps, starting from _easy on the accelerator_, to _you missed a stop sign over there_.

But Kairi was still pleased and I started fearing for my life.

We stopped at the red light of a four-way intersection and I sighed as I looked around, remembering how Dad used to take me to that one ice cream parlor when I was little or how the whole family went bowling at the alley right next to it. Twilight Town seemed exactly the same as it was when I moved away almost two months ago – except for the fact that I was a spy-in-training, sitting in a car with a retired CIA agent and a few more spies-in-training. Plus, I could now see all the places where a girl could hide, like between alleyways and side streets (which would make some pretty good shortcuts too).

Then I looked down at the few pedestrians who were crossing the street and gasped.

"What?" Kairi asked, poking her head in between the two front seats. Then she shifted into spy-mode and looked around. "There's nothing out there. Ohh, did you gasp at that hottie crossing the street?"

Selphie perked up. "Where?!" she asked excitedly, jumping up but accidentally hitting her head against the cushioned ceiling of the truck.

Even Olette wanted to see.

I grew speechless as I saw the Matt Lanter look-alike from the night before. He was there! Right there! Crossing the street… _right there_!

Me and my best friends stared at him, our mouths slightly open.

Then, as luck would have it (or a curse, I'm not really sure), he turned and his gorgeous eyes locked onto mine. His pace across the street slowed down as he smirked at me. Then he pulled his hand out of the front pocket of his skinny jeans and gave me a single wave.

_Oh. My. God._

Selphie giggled. "Ooh! He's waving at us!"

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Kairi shaking her head, her mouth still gaping open. "I don't think he's waving at _us_, Selph… I think he's waving at _Namine_."

* * *

**AGAIN, ISN'T ROXAS JUST THE SWEETEST?  
**But then there's that stupid kid who spilled ice cream all over Nami's shirt. && NOW HE'S WAVING AT HER?! WTF???? (laughs menecingly) The next chapter's pretty suspenseful, I can feel it!

Sorry this wasn't a very long chapter. :P

So review, review, review! I'm sorta losing time when it comes to writing this story. School starts again on August 31! && I have all Honors && tennis, so I'm gonna be soo freaking busy! BUT NOT ALL IS LOST! I'm already done with a few of the next couple of chapters, so I can just update really fast && then get back to my homework. :D


	6. Tyler Burke

**LMFAO.  
**Beverly Hills High is sooo much fun! I made like, fifty new friends who all pitched in to buy me my first pair of Jimmy Choo boots && my first Roberto Cavalli dress. Then they took me to the Peach Pit. They never told me how much it all costed though… Anyways, my first update since school started! :D I would've updated DAYS ago, but I'm always too preoccupied with tennis && Japanese class, haha. && I have a surprise…! But you'll have to read the chapter before you can know what it is, okay? && please don't forget to review! (;

**WHEN LIFE GIVES YOU LEMONS, YOU MAKE LEMONADE. THEN YOU DRINK IT UNDER BLUE SKIES.  
**Lol, guess what I just found out? _Lemonadeskies _(a bestie of mine) started school way before I did! So it's no wonder I haven't heard from her in a while. BUT IT'S ALL GOOD! :D I miss her so much though… *sniff*

**DISCLAIMERS;  
**Are in chapters one && four. (:

**Warning:  
**There's no RxN scene in here. ): SORRY! But this is a fun chappie, I guess… With the whole espionage act && everything, lol. && NO, I AM NOT A SPY! Or am I? People have been wondering that lately. xD

**

* * *

**

6. Tyler Burke

"I can't believe this!" Olette exclaimed, thowing her arms up into the air as she paced back and forth.

She hadn't sat down _once_ since we got back to the mansion – she just kept going back and forth down the aisle between our four beds – trying to make sense of it all. I couldn't blame her.

The sound of thunder rumbled outside of our closed windows, and I suddenly felt like my life was some sort of scary movie. Kairi must've thought so too, because she looked over at me with a terrified expression. Selphie was on her tummy, slowly kicking her feet back and forth in the air as if she was watching an some average movie with ponies and stuff.

But I had a feeling that the ponies were really evil forces and that things were gonna get pretty bloody.

"Exactly _what _is unbelievable?" I asked, crossing my arms and cocking an eyebrow. "That some _boy _looked at me?"

"No!" Olette exclaimed, finally sitting down on her bed after hours of pacing. Her voice became soft. "What's unbelievable is the fact that you didn't tell us."

"He never even crossed my mind after that mission," I replied, rolling my eyes. "Besides, why in the world would I wanna talk to a guy who spilled ice cream all over me, made me feel sticky for hours, and ruined one of my favorite necklaces?"

"He ruined that feather necklace?" Kairi gasped. "How?"

"Ice cream?" I replied, saying it as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "It dripped down my shirt."

"That's beside the point!" Olette yelled as lightning flashed and thunder roared outside.

Selphie started biting her nails as she hid under her covers.

I blinked.

"He could be trying to infiltrate the academy through Nami!" Selphie gasped out of nowhere.

"WHAT?!" I shrieked. "No! No. He can't be. He doesn't even look like the kind of guy who would be involved in some rogue mission!"

"But he has the muscles," Kairi quipped.

I shot her a look.

"Something isn't right here," Olette said, wrapping herself with her blanket. "No one sees you when you don't want to be seen, Nami."

"Well… it wasn't exactly _seeing_… it was more like _bumping_." I tried to make a point by doing hand gestures.

"Technicality." Olette waved the fact away. "What's important is that you have to include him in the reports."

No. Reports lead to reviews. Reviews lead to protocol. Protocol would lead to having two weeks of the security department tailing him through town and checking to see if anybody in his family had a criminal record.

_Does he have a criminal record?!_

"So if I write a report," I started, biting my lip. "how am I supposed to include this guy it if I don't even know who he is?"

"Just describe him," Olette suggested, shrugging. "I mean, if you don't know who he is, then no one will care."

"But it doesn't work that way!" Selphie exclaimed. "Mr. Solomon once told us that every detail of a mission has to be included in a report, remember? And every detail _means_ every detail! If Nami doesn't know someone she came in contact with, then they'll have to debrief her and put her on a Polygraph Machine!"

"So Namine's done for either way," Kairi said softly, sounding defeated.

Thunder rumbled and lightning struck, making the lights black out for a second.

I couldn't help but realize that this really _was _kind of like a scary movie – not for me, but it _will_ be for that cute guy.

Olette walked over and sat down on my bed next to me. "We're gonna find out who he is, Namine. The more details Solomon gets, the less trouble everybody goes through." She sighed. "It's gonna take awhile to get records and information about his family, but it's gonna be worth it in the end."

"We'll start tomorrow," Kairi added gravely.

**):**

Every weekend at Twilight Academy was a free weekend. We were able to use the whole forty-eight hours to catch up on homework or to rest from all the karate we were learning in P&E. Sometimes we would throw movie nights in one of the TV rooms (which are like movie theaters) and stay in late watching reruns of Southpark or Family Guy. Every Sunday night was when Aunt Amanda and I would have dinner together, our courses out from those frozen dinner boxes (since Ryan told me that he had prayed _after _he ate one of her homemade meals).

But I guess this weekend was different.

By seven o'clock the next morning, which was SATURDAY MORNING, we had all woken up to get ready for our mission to find out who double-o-hottie was from the pier the other night. I was dressed in a black Roberto Cavalli button-down trench coat, a black Lucy Love Natalie sundress, black tights, black knit gloves and black Jimmy Choo ballet flats.

Kairi fell into step beside me and handed me a warm blueberry muffin as Olette and Selphie led the way to the basement. The mansion was silent and unmoving as we rushed around throughout the halls, our breath becoming little puffs of smoke as the cold air blew our hair behind us. It was pretty cold for late October, and the heating system in the school sucked (since it's so old and all)!

We stopped in front of a vending machine that was right next to the CoveOps elevator. I pulled out a quarter from my pocket, slipped it into the slot of the machine, and ordered item A-19. It took two seconds for the vending machine to pop open and reveal a corridor that lead to the most state-of-the-art forensics lab outside of the CIA (yeah, Twilight Academy's tricked out that way).

Once we walked into the lab, I set my v-neck down on one of the stainless steel tables as Olette pulled on a white lab coat (nothing makes Olette happier than wearing a white lab coat).

"What exactly are we looking for?" I asked, staring at the yellow stain that dripped down my shirt, crusted over from the dried frozen yogurt cone that double-o-hottie had dropped on me (yeah, I'm _definitely_ throwing that shirt away).

"The subject's saliva should've been on the surface of the ice cream cone," Olette explained, walking over. "So when it spilled on you, some of it should've landed on your shirt. We'll just run it through the system and see what we have."

I nodded and walked over to the other side of the lab, where I could sit in one of the comfy office chairs and catch up on the one hour of sleep I had missed out on.

Unfortunately, Kairi had followed me.

"Don't you think Xion and Roxas should be involved in this?" she asked as I sat down.

I blinked. I had totally forgotten that I had never told _anybody_ about my summer fling with Roxas. They didn't even know we were holding hands the other day!

"Nah," I replied, waving her question away. "They're probably dead in bed right now." I laughed. "Xion would kill me if I dragged her out of bed at seven on a Saturday morning."

Kairi giggled. "I guess so."

We smiled.

An hour later, Olette was gently shaking me awake, telling me that double-o-hottie's DNA wasn't in the system.

"Shocker, isn't it?" Kairi asked, smirking as she crossed her arms.

Olette shot her a look that could kill (which it probably will, once Dr. Fibs, the academy's top scientist, completes his looks-can-kill technology).

"So it means that our subject isn't a lawyer or a member of the CIA?" Selphie asked from her perch in front of a computer screen across the room from us. "Or a criminal?"

"No," Kairi yelled back. "Thank goodness."

"So who _is_ our subject?" I asked, looking up at Olette.

She smiled. "Tyler Burke."

**:D**

"This is so cool!" Selphie exclaimed quietly as we crouched in the bushes outside of Austin's house (which, unfortunately, were wet from yesterday's storm).

"Yeah, but I think a twig's molesting me," I complained. "And I can't really move without making a lot of noise."

"Deal with it," Olette shot.

I couldn't blame her for being so defensive. After all, it had taken us _all day_ to get here, in some really irritating bushes far from Twilight Academy. It took Olette three hours to break us through the academy's firewalls and to scroll through the Twilight Town public schools' computer system to find out that Tyler was Tyler Burke of 804 Gallagher Street. It had taken another hour to access all the Burke family accounts and to intercept the e-mail in which Cameron Burke (Tyler's mom) had promised someone named Cathy that _"We wouldn't miss Keith's surprise party for the world! We'll be there at eight sharp!"_

I pulled out a pair of binoculars from Olette's black Jansport backpack and looked over at the white house with blue shutters at the end of Tyler's block. "So the whole family's over at Keith's house?" I asked, watching as people milled in and out of the front door of the suburban house.

"Yup," Kairi replied, reading a piece of Evapopaper. "Keith Jones. He turns seventeen today."

"Then I guess we're lucky," Olette whispered, smiling.

A car passed by on the newly paved street next to us and I couldn't help but realize how beautiful Tyler's suburban neighborhood was. Large, white houses with porches made for swings and lemonade stood amidst maniqured lawns, under a dark blue night sky. Even though my neighborhood back in Destiny Islands looked exactly like a neighborhood in _90210_, being in a suburban one made me feel as if I would never fit in. I instantly knew that spies didn't belong there.

But still, four _were_ there – crouching in the dark – black-clad and completely silent.

Kairi took out her lock-picking kit and rushed around the house towards the back door. Olette was right behind her, until she stubbed her toe on a garden gnome and landed flat on a holly bush.

"I'm okay!" she called out quietly.

Selphie and I helped her up, and seconds later, we were right behind Kairi as she worked her magic on the lock of the back door.

"Got it," she whispered proudly as she stood up. She turned the knob and pushed it open.

Walking into Tyler's house was like walking into a magazine (although _my_ house looks totally better). A vase of fresh flowers sat on a table. A pie stood cooling on a rack next to the stove. Tyler's sister's report cards were clipped on the refrigerator – straight A's.

"Five minutes!" I called out as Kairi and Olette rushed up the stairs.

Selphie darted into the living room and I slowly followed behind her, my hands in the pockets of my trench coat as I thought of our mission objective.

We had to find out if Tyler was getting instructions from a terror cell or rogue government or something. So as Selphie hacked into his computer and started planting a Trojan Horse virus, I could imagine Kairi and Olette going through his underwear drawer upstairs.

I smiled the way an agent would smile once a mission was close to being completed, but then it slowly faded as I saw a picture of the Burke family sitting on the table next to one of the sofas. I picked it up and my eyes strayed towards Tyler, looking dreamy in his rugby-striped polo and skinny jeans, giving a side hug to his mom as he ruffled his little sister's beautiful light brown hair with his hand. His dad was on the other side of his mother, looking like a total college professor (because he was) in his glasses and messy hair.

"Nami!"

I set the picture back down on the table the way it was before and rushed back into the hallway. I looked up and saw Kairi leaning over the landing.

"Olette says this has to go outside," she said, throwing me a transmitter. "Why don't you try that oak tree in the front yard?"

I nodded and rushed out, the hem of my coat flying behind me as I dashed across the front yard to the tree. I looked around to see if anyone was looking, then, when I realized that nobody was, I started making my way up the trunk.

I was on the third branch, tying off the transmitter, when I looked down the street and saw a dark figure walking towards the Burke house. He was tall. He was young. He had broad shoulders and arm muscles. And he had the same dark brown hair as Tyler!

_Oh gee._

"Bookworm, do you read me?" I panicked, using Olette's code name. I waited for a reply as I stayed crouched against the branch as summer's last remaining leaves swayed around me.

"Princess," I whispered, praying Kairi would answer.

_What was going on with the comms?!_

Tyler was crossing the porch.

Tyler was opening the front door.

"Guys, if you can hear me, just hide, okay? The Subject is entering the house. I repeat. The Subject is entering the house."

The door closed behind him, so I jumped out of the tree and hurried to take cover in the bushes, constantly keeping an eye on the front door, which was a pretty good plan, except for the fact that I totally missed seeing Kairi, Olette, and Selphie crawl out of a second-story window and take refuge on the roof!

"Chameleon!" Kairi called through the dark, scaring me half to death as I dove headfirst into the bushes and then peeked up to see Kairi peek over the eaves of the house.

My best friends must've thought that Tyler was home for the night, since they started attaching rappelling cables to the chimney. But then the worst thing happened – Tyler walked back through the front door!

I watched from the bushes, frozen in terror, as I realized that my three best friends were about to land on top of our subject – and the apple pie he was carrying.

They couldn't see him. He couldn't see them. But I could see everything.

He took a step. They took a step.

We were seconds away from disaster, and honestly, I didn't even know what I was doing until the words, "Oh, hi," were out of my mouth and I was standing in the middle of the Burke family yard.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see terror register on Kairi's face above me as she grabbed Olette and tried to pull her away from the edge and over towards Selphie, who was still by the chimney, but I wasn't really paying attention to them. In fact, another dilemma was standing right in front of me.

"Hey." Tyler smiled at me. "Didn't expect to find you here."

"Oh, you know the Joneses," I said, even if I totally didn't.

He laughed. "Yeah, these parties get even wilder every year."

"Uh huh," I replied, smiling.

I watched as Kairi struggled to drag Olette across the roof, but Olette slipped and started sliding down. She tried to hang onto a gutter, but slipped, and soon, she was swinging off the side of the Burke house, and I felt panic rise inside of me.

I turned my blue eyes back towards Tyler as he nodded towards the pie in his hands.

"My mom kinda forgot this," he rolled his eyes and smiled at me. "She's pretty famous around here for her pies, so she makes one for every event she goes to, even funerals. Pretty lame, right?"

"I think it's nice," I replied, smiling. It totally wasn't a lie. I wouldn't mind if Mom spent all day making pies. It was kind of better than having to wait for her come home from a mission in North Korea disabling nuclear bombs with nothing but nail clippers and a ponytail holder.

"Really?" he glowed, even in the darkness of an early autumn night. Then he started laughing. "Yeah, but whenever my mom brings pies to funerals, it kinda freaks me out."

I could only smile.

Tyler started to turn back towards the house, where Olette was still dangling off the edge, suspended in mid-air by rappelling cables, so I blurted out, "I saw you crossing the street yesterday."

Tyler smiled. "Oh yeah. You were in the white pickup truck with some other girls and an old lady, right?"

_Wow. Sounds like he has photographic memory. Wait… oh my gosh! Maybe he_ is_ trying to infiltrate the academy through me!_

"Umm, yeah," I said, trying not to freak out. "Wow, you sure remember details well."

"Oh, yeah. I get that a lot." He chuckled and scratched the back of his head. "If only that would work for me in Algebra."

I laughed.

"So you're old enough to drive?"

"Yeah, I'm turning sixteen in a like, a week or two." TOTAL LIE. I could never tell him that I was actually fourteen and learning how to drive just so I can hijack a car if I'm ever chased by KGB hitmen! And the birthday thing was a lie too (I turned fourteen in April)!

"Oh, so you're just learning?" Tyler asked, even if the answer was pretty obvious.

I looked behind his shoulder and saw Kairi lower herself to Olette's level. The two of them were swinging in mid-air as Kairi struggled to fix Olette's tangled cables. Selphie was still amidst the chimney, giving me a thumbs up and mouthing, _He's cute!_

"Yeah," I replied slowly, looking back into Tyler's gorgeous eyes. "But I only have my learner's permit."

"That's pretty cool." Tyler gave me a warm smile. "I got my license a few months back. Wanna see my car? We can go out for some ice cream after I take this pie over to my mom."

_Oh my God. Did this dude just ask me out?!_

Behind him, I could see Kairi taking aim at his shoe, firing a tracking device into the back of his Nike. I heard a subtle sound as the device buried itself into the rubber sole, but Tyler didn't even blink. Kairi looked totally proud of herself, even if Olette was still spinning out of control next to her.

"So this is where you live?" I asked, looking around as if I didn't know the answer to his question (which I really kinda don't).

"Yeah." Tyler smiled. "All my life."

Behind him, Kairi must have fixed Olette's cable, because I heard the whizzing sound of three people in near free fall and then the clanging racket of someone landing in a pile of metal trashcans.

I was totally ready to knock Tyler unconscious and make a run for it, but he waved the noise away and said, "Don't worry. This neighborhood has all kinds of dogs."

"Oh." I sighed with relief. There was no way I would muster up enough strength to deck a guy as cute and sweet as Tyler. "Big ones, I guess."

I didn't breathe again until I saw Kairi clamp her hand over Olette's mouth and drag her into the bushes on the far side of the yard.

"Oh, um, I told my mom that I would get her jacket out of the car," I said, stepping towards the dozens of vehicles that lined the street.

"I'll go with you," he started, but just then, a boy appeared in the street and yelled, "Tyler!"

Tyler looked over at him and waved.

"You go on," I said."

"No, really, I…"

"Yo!" the boy called again, coming closer and clsoer to us.

"Really," I said, "I'll catch up with you over there."

And with that, I started running towards a random car, my trench coat and blond hair flying behind me. I ducked behind a black SUV, repositioned its side mirror, and watched as the boy met up with Tyler in the middle of the front yard.

"Did you bake that for me?!" the boy asked sarcastically. "You shouldn't have!"

Tyler punched him hard in the arm.

"Jeez, dude!" the boy exclaimed, rubbing his arm. Then he gestured towards where I had dissapeared in the dark. "Who was that? She was pretty hot."

I rolled my eyes.

_Great._

I held my breath as Tyler followed his friend's gaze. Then he said, "Oh, nobody. Just some girl."

I sighed as I leaned against the side of the SUV and started sliding down until I was sitting on the semi-wet cement of the street. I buried my face into my hands, not because Tyler had called me a nobody, but because I realized that I had a small crush on him.

_But what about Roxas?!_

* * *

**I'M REALLY STARTING TO HATE THIS TYLER KID.  
**That's what you're all saying right now, huh?! Lol, REVIEW!!! :D

&& the surprise? I'm working on my very first oneshot! I think it might become a longfic, though... I'll post the idea on my page somedayy. (;


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